During his tenure as chief minister between February 14, 1988 and March 10, 1989 he carried a campaign against the cooperative mafia. This angered a section of the Congressmen who openly revolted against him.

The cooperative lobby led by late Congress MP, Tapeshwar Singh, was totally opposed to his campaign. But Azad stood firm against them.

Dissident activities within the Congress led by Dr Jagannath Mishra forced the party high command to replace him with Satyendra Narayan Sinha.

Azad represented Bhagalpur seat in Lok Sabha six times and even served as a junior minister in the Union cabinet. Though he was known as an upright man he could not fully succeed in his mission to get rid of the mafia in Bihar.

His name was dragged into the infamous Bhagalpur riots of 1989 even though it took place during the tenure of his successor, Satyendra Narayan Sinha. It is said that he had a running battle with the then Speaker of Bihar Assembly Shiv Chandra Jha, who also hailed from Bhagalpur district.

It was during his tenure as the chief minister that two massacres took place under Kako block of Jehanabad district in which many Dalits were killed. Azad’s face was smeared by an activist, Virendra Vidrohi, when he visited the said village, Khagritola.

His younger son, Kirti Azad, is Lok Sabha MP of BJP from Darbhanga. He represented India in ODI and Test cricket.
Late Azad also took part in the freedom struggle.

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