JTN remains defiant, says will take call in 2-3 days
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 28: The Congress remained undecided on its candidate for Ladakh seat so far amid pressure from National Conference leaders in Kargil that he should be from Kargil district to have support of the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) as well as the NC while sitting BJP MP Jamyang Tsering Namgayal also remained defiant by touring different areas of the constituency and meeting his supporters but not disclosing his future course of action even after expressing loyalty towards the party.
Nominations for Ladakh seat had opened on April 26 and May 3 is last date for filing the papers. The seat will go to polls in the fifth phase on May 20.
Dr Zaffar Akhoon, Chairman-cum-CEC Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) Kargil, who belongs to the National Conference, told the Excelsior that they are in talks with the Congress leadership and hopefully the issue will be settled in next two to three days.
Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp Channel
“All of us-the National Conference and the Congress-are part of KDA. We are also in alliance in the Hill Council. We want the Congress to field candidate from Kargil district so that there is consensus,” Zaffar said.
National Conference senior leader Qamar Ali Akhoon, who was Cabinet Minister in NC-Congress coalition Government in J&K from 2008-2014, also aired the similar views.
Congress president Rigzin Jora, who hails from Leh and working president Haji Asgar Ali Karbalaie, who belongs to Kargil, are stated to be frontrunners for the Congress mandate. However, if the National Conference insists that the mandate should go to Kargil, Karbalaie may emerge favourite. Jora is also believed to be the choice of Congress leadership as he won Leh Assembly seat thrice.
As per the seat sharing agreement of INDIA block, National Conference and Congress shared three seats each in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Ladakh seat has gone to the Congress. Both the parties had contested Kargil Hill Council elections together and registered landslide victory. They are sharing power in the Council.
At the same time, the political observers don’t rule out the possibility of a National Conference leader from Kargil district revolting against the party decision to join electoral fray on Ladakh seat as an Independent candidate if the Congress doesn’t field candidate from Kargil.
Political observers said that the dilemma faced by the Congress could be the result of delay in announcement of the party candidate for Ladakh Parliamentary constituency as three days have already passed since notification for the seat was issued by the Election Commission.
The BJP has announced candidature of Leh Hill Development Council Chairman-cum-CEC Tashi Gyalson for Ladakh seat replacing sitting MP Jamyang Tsering Namgayal.
Namgayal remained defiant. He continued to tour different parts of Ladakh Parliamentary seat to meet his supporters. After meeting supporters in Leh, he visited Zanskar and Kargil areas.
Though he stated that he is with the party, but gave no categorical reply to a question as to whether he will support the BJP candidate Tashi Gyalson on Ladakh seat.
Namgayal continued to maintain that there were no reasons to deny him the mandate and asked the reporters to wait for two to three days for his final decision.
The Leh Apex Body (LAB) is yet to make a formal announcement on Ladakh elections though there were reports that it may not field any candidate for Lok Sabha polls. Since the LAB and KDA were running the agitation for Sixth Schedule Status and Statehood besides other issues collectively, it is yet to be seen whether the LAB supports any candidate or not.
The BJP for the first time won Ladakh Parliamentary seat in 2014 with Thupstan Chhewang, the party nominee emerging victorious. In 2019, Jamyang Tsering Namgayal, who was also the Chairman-cum-CEC of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) Leh, retained the seat for the BJP. The BJP’s decision to drop Namgayal comes amid resentment towards the ruling party among a section of Buddhists in Leh.
The local sources said Gyalson, who is also a lawyer, is in a better position to maintain the BJP’s hold over the seat, which also includes Muslim-majority Kargil.
The BJP Government at the Centre had fulfilled long pending demand of the majority people of Ladakh for grant of Union Territory status on August 5, 2019 when Article 370 was scrapped and erstwhile State was bifurcated into two UTs of J&K and Ladakh. Ladakh was earlier a region and was later made third division besides Jammu and Kashmir before being made a UT.
However, after some time, the Leh Apex Body and Kargil Democratic Alliance started agitation demanding Sixth Schedule Status and Statehood for Ladakh besides some other demands for protection of land, culture, identity etc of the locals.
The BJP Government at the Centre has ruled out Sixth Schedule status as well as Statehood but stressed for continued dialogue with LAB and KDA. However, the two bodies of Ladakh said there was no fun of talks when their two major demands have been rejected.
The PDP with no major stakes in the UT is also expected not to field its candidate though it hasn’t announced its decision so far.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
