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| NC, PDP can't claim that they are state-level parties | | Jammu, Ladakh important factors | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Mar 30: Farooq Abdullah's NC and Mehbooba Mufti's PDP claim day in and day out that they represent the whole of the state consisting of three distinct regions of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. While doing so, they only exaggerate their strength. The NC and the PDP can't be termed as parties of all-J&K State character.
This can be seen from the fact that it didn't field any candidate in any of the two Lok Sabha constituencies in Jammu province both in 2014 and 2019. In 2014, it supported the Congress candidates and transferred all its votes to them but with no result. Both the Congress candidates - Madan Lal Sharma and Ghulam Nabi Azad - suffered massive defeats at the hands of the BJP candidates. While Jugal Kishore Sharma defeated Madan Lal Sharma with a huge margin of over 2.2 lakh votes, Jitendra Singh defeated Azad by an impressive margin of over 60,000 votes.
This time again, the NC has not fielded its candidates in Jammu province; it has left both the seats for the Congress, thus puncturing its claim that it represents Jammu province as well.
It's spurious claim. Of course, it won three assembly seats out of 37 in 2014 and that should demonstrate the nature of its influence in Jammu province. The NC has no support base in the Ladakh's Leh district and its support-base in Kargil is also limited to a few wards.
The story of the PDP in Jammu and Ladakh is no different. It has no support-base in Ladakh and its support-base in Jammu is also limited to a few pockets inhabited by the followers of a particular faith. It, like the NC, also won 3 seats in the 2014 assembly elections. It had fielded its candidates in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in Jammu province but only to suffer humiliating defeats.
In Ladakh, it had not fielded its candidate and that should clear all the cobwebs of confusion that the PDP has no say in Ladakh.
This time, the PDP, like the NC, has also not fielded its candidates in Jammu and it should speak for itself. All this should establish that both the NC and the PDP have raised their hands in Jammu and Leh. So to call the NC and the PDP state-level parties would be a misnomer. The fact of the matter is that both these parties are of sub-regional character having support-base confined to a few areas in the tiny Kashmir Valley.
Whatever the support-base the PDP has in Kashmir, it is limited to South Kashmir. As for the NC, its support-base is confined to Srinagar district and certain adjoining areas. |
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