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| Azad eats humble pie, Singh emerges 'giant killer' | | Deceived by party men in Kathua | | Kunal Shrivatsa/Avinash Azad
KATHUA, May16: At the receiving end in the elections to the 16th Lok Sabha elections in every part of the country, the Congress in J&K replicated the trends in the state as it gave its worst ever performance here.
The severity of the crushing defeat could be gauged from the fact that one of tallest leaders of the grand old party of the country, Union Minister and former Chief Minister of J&K, Ghulam Nabi Azad contesting from Udhampur-Doda parliamentary constituency, received biggest ever jolt in his forty year long political career when he was humbled at the hustings by none other than a little known politician, Dr Jitendra Singh of the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP).
Like other parts of the country, the BJP created history in Jammu and Kashmir too where the saffron party captured three seats from the state for the first time, but the results of Udhampur-Doda Parliamentary seat has shook the Congress party as BJP candidate Dr Jitendra Singh defeated Union Health Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad by around 60 thousand votes.
It was not only 'NaMo' factor but Congress' own faults added to the party stalwart's defeat at his home turf as he got negligible or little support in Kathua and Udhampur districts particularly in Kathua, Billawar, Basohli, Udhampur, Ramnagar and Chenani assembly segments where he fared poorly.
If insiders are to be believed, Azad was deliberately deceived by some upper ranks of party in Kathua district where the Congress received a severe setback.
"Senior Congress leader and incumbent of Udhampur-Doda Lok Sabha seat Lal Singh definitely played truant with the party in general and Ghulam Nabi Azad Saheb in particular as party was nowhere in the picture in Basohli, Billawar and Kathua constituencies where Singh holds a strong grip over the voters," said a senior Congress leader, adding that party has 25,000 to 30,000 loyal voters in Billawar assembly segment, where it received votes only half of its support base.
"The likes of Manohar Lal Sharma and Balbir Singh, who rejoined Congress after quitting PDP, have combined influence over 30 to 35 thousand voters in Billawar and if we add another 7 to 8 thousand of trusted voters of National Conference leader Romy Khajuria, the tally comes at around 40 thousand but the party got paltry 18 thousand votes," sources said.
Sources blamed that open revolt against party by Choudhary Lal Singh was also responsible for Congress defeat in Udhampur-Doda seat
"The poor showing of the Congress was also quite visible in Basohli where it could manage only 8523 votes in comparison to BJP's 36169….Lal Singh who has influence in Basohli assembly segment since he and his wife represented this constituency, escaped from his responsibility. Singh remained inactive throughout the election, he didn't campaign for party while he openly asked people not to vote for Azad Saheb," said sources.
Sources further said that Doda, Kishtwar, Gool-Arnas, Gulabgarh and Reasi assembly segments were saving grace for Azad where party got vote share on expected lines.
In Reasi, fight remained almost neck to neck between Azad and Singh while in Gool-Arnas, Gulabgarh and erstwhile Doda district, the Congress nominee succeeded in holding his fort, they added.
Udhampur-Doda Lok Sabha seat Assembly Constituency wise voting
Assembly BJP Cong PDP NOTA
Kishtwar 18726 22484 5143 355
Inderwal 11186 40372 1871 326
Doda 18176 35914 838 435
Bhaderwah 21353 43996 1741 312
Ramban 23164 26382 2844 673
Banihal 5514 32838 4431 591
Gulabgarh 7664 37332 3452 591
Reasi 46843 34282 1184 950
Gool-Arnas 9355 29016 4006 583
Udhampur 49623 19429 479 873
Chenani 34336 14912 879 1296
Ramnagar 33583 18031 1010 1107
Bani 12813 10396 336 253
Basohli 36169 8523 392 256
Kathua 61254 18058 1160 360
Billawar 48462 18076 606 396
Hiranagar 53567 16491 573 370 |
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