NC faces revolt in Kargil

Kargil, May 6:  National Conference (NC) on Monday faced a revolt in the Kargil district of Ladakh ahead of the Lok Sabha elections for the parliamentary constituency after the district unit Kargil submitted a mass resignation letter to the party high command.

This setback for the NC in Kargil comes following disagreements over the choice of candidate for the Lok Sabha elections between the National Conference (NC) and Congress who are part of the INDIA bloc.

The development comes after the NC high command on Monday asked the party cadre in Kargil to support the INDIA bloc official candidate Tsering Namgyal in the Ladakh parliamentary constituency, which the NC cadre refused.

Addressing a news conference here, Additional General Secretary of NC, Qamar Ali Akhoon said that the NC’s Kargil unit submitted a mass resignation letter to the party high command.

Akhoon said that the NC high command pressured them to support the INDIA bloc candidate Tsering Namgyal in the elections which was not acceptable to the Kargil leadership.

“In the interest of the Ladakh region as a whole and to secure the future of our region, the Ladakh Democratic Alliance (LDA) has decided to project a joint candidate Haneefa Jan as an independent candidate for the election from 1-Ladakh parliamentary constituency supported by all the political and religious groups unanimously cutting across the party and religious affiliations,” the letter stated.  “The party high command is pressuring us (both telephonically as well on social media) to support the official candidate of Congress from Ladakh which is unacceptable to Kargil units of both the NC and Congress.”

Akhoon said that as NC was asking them to act against the interest of the people of Ladakh, they were compelled to resign en masse from all party posts.

“This letter may be considered as a mass resignation of all party functionaries from the primary membership of NC,” the letter stated.

Talking to Greater Kashmir, Akhoon said that they would not bow to the party pressure and keep the interests of the people of Ladakh first.

Talking to Greater Kashmir, NC Provincial President Kashmir and Incharge Ladakh, Nasir Aslam Wani termed the development as “unfortunate”.

“This is unfortunate and a setback for the NC that a united party cadre in Kargil,” Wani said.  “We wanted to support Congress and INDIA bloc official candidates in Ladakh as per the seat sharing agreement. However, it is unfortunate that our party unit has revolted.”

Fractures emerged within the INDIA bloc over the choosing of a candidate for the Ladakh Lok Sabha seat with the local Congress and NC leaders in Kargil nominating Hanifa Jan as the independent candidate.

Jan is the district president of NC.

However, the move contrasted with the Congress high command's decision, which nominated T Namgyal, the opposition leader in the Leh Hill Development Council (LADHC), as the party's official nominee. On Monday, two independent candidates including prominent social-political activist Sajjad Kargili and Congress leader Kacho Feroz withdrew their nomination in favour of the joint candidate Hanifa Jan.  As per the seat-sharing agreement between NC and Congress, NC had decided to leave the Ladakh parliamentary seat to Congress.  The Ladakh parliamentary seat is going for polls on May 20 in the fifth phase of elections. So far, only three candidates are in the fray for the Ladakh parliamentary constituency including BJP’s Tashi Gyalson, Congress’ Tsering Namgyal, and an independent candidate from Kargil, Hanifa Jan.