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| Not Easy Go For Congress In Kathua | | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
KATHUA, DEC 10: The border constituency of Kathua is witnessing a complex electoral battle this time with the incumbent MP and Congress nominee locked in a multi-cornered fight with rebel candidates from his own party and also those from the BJP, BSP and NC.
Congress MP from Doda-Udhampur-Kathua seat Lal Singh, who is contesting assembly elections from the constituency for the first time, is fighting to stave off a tirade launched against him by the party's rebels.
The rebels--former power minister Babu Singh and former chairman of Kathua municipality, Naresh Sharma--were denied tickets by the Congress in the current assembly elections.
Singh and Sharma have had a long history of animosity with Lal as he was instrumental in dislodging Sharma from the post of chairman of Kathua municipality by engineering a no confidence motion by municipal corporators early this year.
Singh is drawing huge crowds in his rallies and he enjoys pockets of influence among Rajputs, Jats and Scheduled Tribes, who constitute 73 per cent of voters in the constituency.
"I am confident of winning the seat keeping in view my development report card. I have completed over 103 major works in different categories in the constituency," Babu Singh, the sitting MLA from the area, said during his campaign trail here.
Sharma, who claims to have influence over a section of Brahmin voters, has claimed that Lal is an outsider in the area. Lal's previous stint as a state assembly member came from Basholi constituency in 1996 and 2002.
The threat posed by these candidates to the official Congress candidate can be gauged by the fact that both former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and J&K Congress chief and Union minister Saifuddin Soz had made appeals to them to withdraw from the race in the larger interest of the party.
Several other candidates, including some former bureaucrats--Som Raj Majotra (BSP) and Charanjit Singh Jasrotia (independent)--are also giving Lal a run for his money.
Political observers say with so many candidates in the fray, the fight has become tough.
Lal is banking on his clean image among the voters. He is considered to be an outspoken person and his report card includes a stint as state minister for health in 2002-2003 and the works he did as an MP in Kathua district.
As many as 1,11,546 voters would decide the fate of the 20 candidates including Lal and Singh at 122 polling stations in the fifth phase of polling on December 13. |
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