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| Congress says no to NC, fields Rigzin from Ladakh LS seat | | Alliance in jeopardy | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Apr 9: The much-talked NC-Congress pre-poll alliance for the Lok Sabha elections in J&K is in jeopardy. It's almost over. The Congress has said no to the NC and fielded Buddhist leader Rigzin Spalbar as the party candidate from the Ladakh parliamentary seat. Ladakh returns only one member to the Lok Sabha. Kashmir returns 3 members and Jammu elects 2 members to the Lok Sabha.
According to an insider, "the Congress had short-listed two candidates, 2-time Chief Executive Councillor (CEC) of the Leh Autonomous Hill Council, Rigzin Spalbar, and former MLA and Shia leader from Kargil, Asgar Ali Karbalaie, but the Congress decided to field Spalbar".
At the time of forging the so-called pre-poll alliance, the NC and the Congress leaders, including Farooq Abdullah and Ghulam Nabi Azad, had announced that the "Congress will contest from both the Lok Sabha seats in Jammu", that "the Congress will not field its candidate against Farooq Abdullah in the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency", that there will be "friendly contests between the NC and the Congress candidates in the Anantnag and Baramulla parliamentary constituencies", and that "the decision on the Ladakh Lok Sabha seat will be taken later on".
Sources say that "the NC leadership did try to persuade AICC president, Rahul Gandhi, to keep the Ladakh seat for their party, but failed" and that "the AICC president told the NC leadership that the Congress' poll prospects in Ladakh are bright and, hence, it will field its own candidate".
Taking an exception to the decision of the Congress, the NC has said: "It is holding discussions on fielding a consensus candidate who will be supported by all groups from Kargil". The NC is likely to take a decision in this regard within a couple of days. Many in the NC want the party to field candidate from the Ladakg seat to "teach the Congress a lesson".
The BJP has already fielded a Buddhist and incumbent Chief Executive Councillor of the Leh Autonomous Hill council, Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, from the Ladakh seat. The BJP tried its level best to make former MP Thupstan Chhewang to return to the party fold and again contest from the Ladakh seat, but he refused. He had resigned from the party and the Lok Sabha accusing BJP national general secretary and in-charge Jammu & Kashmir, Ram Madhav, and state BJP president Ravinder Raina of "letting down the people of Ladakh by not granting the promised UT status to the region".
The PDP has not fielded its candidate from this seat so far. It has little or no support-base in the region. The party chief and former CM Mehbooba Mufti has said that her party was for a consensus candidate. |
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