By Faiqa Masoodi
SRINAGAR: The higher you go, the cooler it is. This dictum applies to physics in the same way as it applies to politics in Kashmir. The cold Ladakh desert politics is exhibiting the same fate for the INDIA bloc as the big alliance saw in Kashmir. Parties affiliated with the alliance in the twin district region are likely to field two different candidates from the two places.
NC-Congress combined in Kargil on Wednesday and proposed fielding Haji Hanifa Jan. Later that day, Congress in Leh announced the candidature of Tsering Namgyal.
INDIA bloc leaders have skipped a comment or a response to the emerging situation. Seemingly, the constituents of the grand opposition may end up fighting each other, a situation that already existed in Kashmir where NC and PDP are the principle contestants against each other on three Lok Sabha seats. The twin district constituency goes to polls on May 20, in the fifth phase. The twin candidate set-up may eventually impact the regional alliances that the two districts have invested in since 2020.
On Wednesday Congress and National Conference (NC) jointly proposed Haji Muhammad Hanifa Jan as their candidate for the berth. A prominent figure in the district and a senior NC leader, Hanifa was stated to be “a consensus”. However, the members of the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDC) suggested they were not involved in the decision-making and were not consulted.
Kacho Mohammad Feroz, the Executive Councillor of LAHDC, Kargil, addressed media and announced Hanifa’s candidature. He said that senior leaders of Ladakh Congress have gone to Delhi to convince the national leadership regarding the decision.
Many hours later, the Congress declared Tsering Namgyal, currently the leader of Opposition in LAHDC, Leh, as its candidate for the Lok Sabha poll from Ladakh. Veteran Congressman and former minister Rigzin Jora made the announcement.
“Ladakh, under INDIA bloc, was supposed to go to the Congress and Haji is an NC leader,” Jora was quoted as saying. “It is not possible for Congress to go with an NC leader even while we are in an alliance.” He said Hanifa’s name was declared by the “Kargil unit of Congress and NC to pressurise the party”.
BJP has already fielded advocate Tashi Gyalson as its candidate. He headed the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) Leh since 2020. Earlier, he was with PDP and then he joined BJP, which now nominated him for the coveted seat. BJP, it may be recalled here, dropped the incumbent MP, Tsering Namgyal, who is now contemplating to c
