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| UT fined common cause with Autonomy | | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Oct 26: It was the demand of Union Territory which led to a complete unanimity in Leh in 2002 elections and the representatives were sent to legislative assembly without any election at all. Six years later, Leh is all set to witness a highly competitive election where the Union Territory slogan is forging a common ground with the politics of Greater Autonomy.
Nawang Rigzin Jora and Pinto Narbo did not have to face an election in Leh and Nobra constituencies respectively in 2002 elections as no candidate had stood against them. It was a show of rare unanimity. Local units of all political parties were unanimously dissolved to give shape to the Ladakh Union Territory Front (LUTF). The political spectrum not only Jammu and Kashmir but across country was left surprised by the people of Leh when these two candidates did not have to face any election at all to enter the legislative assembly.
Six years later, politics in the trans-Himalayan enclave has become more competitive than ever and more complex than ever. Local units of almost all regional and national political parties, which existed before dissolution, have been fully revived and the LUTF is not back with a different ideology. Nawang Rigzin and Pinto Narbo are now with Congress, as associate members.
In all certainty there is going to be a contest between the Congress and the LUTF but it is not as straight as it appears to be. Once a bitter critic of National Conference for proposing Greater Autonomy instead of empowering regions, the LUTF is now cozying up with NC. At one of the constituencies LUTF will its candidate and at other National Conference will field its. Interestingly, it will be a mutually complimentary scheme of fielding candidates as LUTF and National Conference will support each other and any number of seats won will eventually fall in the National Conference laps.
LUTF founder and Member Parliament Thupstan Chhewang is seeking election from Leh constituency where National Conference is not fielding its candidate. In the neighbouring Nobra constituency, the National Conference is all certain to field Chitan Namgyal –a former Minister –and the LUTF is likely to abstain.
The hobnobbing between LUTF and National Conference was evident today when Omar Abdullah, during his today’s Leh visit got up and close with Thupstan Chhewang and LUTF members of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council. It appeared for a while as if Omar was LUTF’s leader in Leh.
However, this marriage inconvenience between LUTF and National Conference is not going well with the people in Leh. Both parties have their ideologies and view points on Ladakh poles apart. The LUTF stood better chances of winning if it preferred to run alone and take on the Congress for not addressing basic aspirations of the region. Since National Conference, as everyone knows in Leh, is party with diametrically opposite views to what prevails locally, the LUTF may come in for an audit for its alliance.
Sources said that while Congress is almost certain to repeat Nawang Rigzin Jora from Leh constituency, a journalist-politician Tsewang Rigzin is running ahead of others for Nobra constituency and is stated to stand promising chances of winning. In any case competition on both constituencies is all set to be a tough battle. |
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