Cracks in INDIA bloc, KDA leader too takes exception
Tashi files papers, JTN may join fray as Independent
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, May 1: Cracks appeared in INDIA bloc allies-the National Conference and Congress when NC leaders from Kargil along with few junior leaders of Congress announced the candidature of Haji Hanifa Jan, district president NC as joint candidate of the two parties from Ladakh Parliamentary constituency while the Congress high command tonight declared T Namgayal, Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Leh Hill Development Council as the party’s official nominee.
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Even the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) leader Sajjad Kargili, who contested last Parliamentary election from Ladakh, clarified that the Alliance was not consulted by any of the parties while finalizing their candidates.
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The BJP too continued to face crisis even as party candidate Tashi Gyalson, Chairman-cum-CEC filed his nomination papers today without the presence of sitting MP Jamyang Tsering Namgayal, whose Fan Club in a Face book Page declared him as the Independent candidate from Ladakh Parliamentary seat.
UT Congress chief Rigzin Jora told the Excelsior on telephone from New Delhi that the party high command has approved the name of T Namgayal, LoP Hill Council as the party candidate for Ladakh Lok Sabha seat.
“How a National Conference leader can be given the Congress mandate. We extended unconditional support to NC on three seats. We didn’t ask for Congress leader to be fielded on NC ticket. How the NC can ask the Congress to field their leader on Cong mandate”? Jora asked.
Asserting that the Congress mandate is decided by the party command and everyone has to follow the decision, Jora, a three-time MLA from Leh, said if a name of Congress leader from Kargil district had come before the party high command it would have been discussed but certainly the Congress can’t give mandate to a leader of the other party.
As per the INDIA bloc agreement, NC and Congress had to contest three Lok Sabha seats each in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh UTs.
Earlier in the day, Kargil Hill Council chief and NC leader Dr Jaffar Akhoon, senior NC leader and former Minister in erstwhile J&K Government Qamar Ali Akhoon, former CEC Hill Council Feroz Khan and Ghulam Rasool, district Kargil NC vice president besides Hanifa Jan and other senior leaders from NC announced the candidature of Jan for Ladakh Lok Sabha seat. Kacho Mohammad Feroz, Congress Executive Councillor and some other Cong leaders also attended the press conference.
However, Haji Asgar Ali Karbalaie, working president and Nassir Munshi, district president of the Congress, both from Kargil district were not present.
Addressing the press conference in Kargil, Ghulam Rasool, NC vice president for Kargil announced the candidature of Haji Hanifa Jan claiming him to be the joint candidate of NC and Congress.
“Jan, the NC leader, will contest on the Congress mandate,” he said, adding that a decision was taken after series of consultations between the leaders of two political parties.
Kacho Mohammad Feroz, Congress leader and Executive Councillor in Kargil Hill Councillor stated in the press conference that Hanifa Jan will be the joint NC and Congress candidate even if he is not given the Congress mandate saying it is collective decision of the two parties.
KDA leader Sajjad Kargili, who contested last Lok Sabha election as an Independent candidate, said the KDA hasn’t been consulted.
Kargili, who finished second in 2019 Parliamentary election from Ladakh, said he has been receiving numerous calls asking whether the Kargil Democratic Alliance has been consulted regarding the selection of the Lok Sabha candidate.
“As a Core Committee member of KDA, I would like to clarify that both NC and Congress have independently selected their candidates for Ladakh Lok Sabha seat within their respective parties. As of now, not a single meeting of KDA was held on this matter,” Kargili wrote on X.
Meanwhile, BJP candidate and Chairman-cum-CEC Leh Hill Development Council Tashi Gyalson today filed nomination form from Ladakh Lok Sabha seat. He was joined by the senior party leaders.
Tashi told reporters that he went to the house of sitting BJP MP Jamyang Tsering Namgayal before filing the papers. He expressed confidence that Namgayal will come on board.
However, Namgayal Fan Club, in their Face book Page today announced Namgayal as an Independent candidate from Ladakh seat.
The BJP had won Ladakh seat in 2014 and 2019 but never before that. Thupstan Chhewang was the winner in 2014 and Namgayal in 2019.
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