‘NC candidate on Congress mandate’--a new formula ‘to defeat BJP’ in Ladakh

Alliance partners yet to reach consensus on joint candidate; NC wants Congress to field Kargil-based candidate for Ladakh seat

Jammu, April 29: Amid growing worries of an open revolt against the party high command’s decision, Ladakh unit of the National Conference (NC) seems to have come up with a unique idea of an alliance with the Congress party in the region wherein a senior party (NC) leader is likely to contest the Lok Sabha elections on Congress mandate “to ensure the defeat of the BJP candidate”.
As per the seat-sharing formula between the two parties, the NC would contest Anantnag-Rajouri, Central Kashmir (Srinagar) and North Kashmir (Baramulla) parliamentary seats while the Congress has been allocated three seats, including Jammu-Reasi, Kathua-Udhampur-Doda and Ladakh.
“We are in hectic discussions with the Congress party over the nomination of a joint candidate for the lone Lok Sabha seat of Ladakh. As per the arrangement, the mandate of the Lok Sabha seat has been given to the Congress party, and the National Conference is supposed to extend its full support to its alliance partner. Our workers and cadre are not happy with the party high command’s decision. We have discussed with the Congress party that no controversial candidate should be given a mandate for the Lok Sabha seat,” a senior NC leader told The News Now who declined to be named.
The leader said the Congress leadership was being convinced that the NC candidate from Kargil district should contest on their (Congress) mandate to respect the “coalition dharma” so that the alliance partners could easily defeat the BJP candidate.
“We are hopeful that this formula will be materialized in the next couple of days. It will help us in consolidating our position in Kargil district because any move to field Congress candidate from Leh would ultimately lead to division of votes in Shia Muslim-dominated Kargil district,” the leader added.
Pertinently, the Ladakh unit of the NC has been exerting pressure on the Congress to nominate the joint candidate of two alliance partners for Ladakh Lok Sabha seat from the Kargil district only, if the grand-old party really intends to avoid division of votes in the region.
For this, the leaders of NC and Congress have had several rounds of parleys to reach a consensus but no breakthrough has been achieved as yet. While the Congress party is contemplating fielding its senior leader and former minister, Nawang Rigzin Jora from the seat, the NC leaders in Kargil feel any decision to field a Buddhist candidate from Leh would prove counterproductive and would cost them heavily in Lok Sabha polls.
Sources said that the NC leadership had been facing difficulties in convincing their own cadre and workers over the high command’s unilateral decision of allocating the lone Lok Sabha seat to the Congress. “Our leaders, activists, and workers in Kargil and Leh districts are miffed over the decision of the party’s top leadership to leave the Ladakh seat for Congress. The decision was taken unilaterally and in haste without taking us into confidence. It will have serious repercussions at the grassroots level for the party (NC),” sources added.
A senior NC leader said, “In October last year, we emerged as the single largest political party in the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) Kargil by bagging 12 seats out of a total 17 on which it fielded its candidates while the Congress stood second with 10 seats. We have further consolidated our position in the district after the newly formed Council-led NC has taken several pro-people decisions”.
He added, “The alliance arrangement will badly affect the party’s base in Ladakh, while Congress, which was slowly its base in the region.

Updated On 4/29/2024 2:45:44 AM