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Posted at: Mar 13, 2019, 6:55 AM; last updated: Mar 13, 2019, 6:55 AM (IST)Party wants to settle differences among Kargil & Leh units
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Arteev Sharma
Tribune News Service
Jammu, March 12
With the BJP facing “acceptability and leadership crisis” in Ladakh, the Congress is in a dilemma over the name of its candidate for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections to be held in the region on May 6.
The party, which is virtually a divided house in the Ladakh region, wants “to strike a balance” between two ideologically different districts — Kargil and Leh — before finalising the name of the candidate for the Ladakh seat, which is geographically the biggest Lok Sabha constituency in the country.
While the Congress unit in Buddhist-dominated Leh district wants one of its leaders to be the candidate, the Shia Muslim-majority Kargil district is against the idea.
During the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had managed, for the first time, to win the Ladakh Lok Sabha seat with a margin of just 36 votes following “serious differences” between the Leh and Kargil units of the party. Congress rebel Ghulam Raza was the runner-up by securing 31,075 votes while the party’s official candidate remained at number three.
“This time, I won’t contest the elections. The party leaders here want senior leader and former minister Nawang Rigzin Jora to contest the elections, but he too has shown his reluctance. The party high command will take a call on deciding and finalising the name of the candidate,” said Tsering Samphel, who was the official candidate of the Congress in the 2014 parliamentary elections.
Raza, however, said the party high command should hold consultation with the leaders of both the units before finalising the candidate. “We face no challenge from the BJP this time, but the party should act sensibly (while fielding the candidate),” Raza said.
Jora said he would contest the Assembly elections and the party was deliberating upon the names of three or four leaders for the Ladakh parliamentary seat. “Congress general secretary Ambika Soni, party’s campaign in charge Ghulam Nabi Azad and state chief GA Mir, in consultation with local leadership, will take a decision on the candidate,” he said.
“Though the BJP is not a challenge to us, we will ensure that the saffron party would not be able to cheat the people on false promises,” Jora said.
The BJP’s face in Ladakh and MP Thupstan Chhewang resigned in November last year, accusing that all promises made by the party sounded like empty rhetoric. The BJP had also failed to open its account in the Ladakh region in the maiden civic poll in October last year.
Differing ideologies
- The party wants “to strike a balance” between two ideologically different districts — Kargil and Leh — before finalising the name of the candidate for the Ladakh seat
- While the Congress unit in Buddhist-dominated Leh district wants one of its leaders to be the candidate, the Shia Muslim-majority Kargil district is against the idea
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https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/jammu-kashmir/cong-in-fix-over-ladakh-nominee/742047.html