Relief for BJP as Ladakh MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal campaigns for party candidate

PTI

Arjun Sharma

Jammu, May 3

Ending over a week of uncertainty, BJP’s sitting MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal finally campaigned for the party candidate on Friday. After Namgyal didn’t get the party ticket, he had indicated that he would contest as an Independent. Senior BJP leaders from New Delhi had flown in to Ladakh after Jamyang had expressed his displeasure over allocation of the ticket to Tashi Gyalson, Chief Executive Councillor (CEC) of the Leh Hill Council, a few days ago.

Jamyang said he had not rejoined the BJP as he was already its member. “The BJP is my political birthplace. I was also annoyed but the matter was just like differences which sometimes crop up in a family. Those differences have been eliminated and I am here to campaign for Tashi Gyalson,” he said.

Four-cornered contest likely

If none withdraws candidature by May 6, the Lok Sabha poll from Ladakh will be a four-cornered contest as BJP’s Tashi Gyalson, Congress candidate T Namgyal and Independents Sajjad Kargili and Haji Hanifa Jan will be facing one another on May 20.

Issues resolved

I was annoyed but the matter was just like differences which sometimes crop up in a family. Those issues have been eliminated. Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, BJP MP

Jamyang said the BJP would win the Ladakh parliamentary seat with a thumping majority like it did in 2019. “We have worked hard for the past five years and there is no corner where development has not reached. The BJP will take steps which are in favour of aspirations of the Ladakh people,” he said.

During campaigning, Tashi Gyalson said, “There are quarters who wanted Jamyang Tsering Namgyal to go against the party and me but I had said that we cannot be separated. We are sharing the stage and will take Ladakh forward together.”

However, all is not well with the Ladakh unit of the Congress, which is facing a vertical divide between Leh and Kargil districts. While official Congress candidate Tsering Namgyal, who is also leader of opposition in the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), Leh, filed his nomination papers, the party’s Kargil unit on Friday accompanied National Conference leader Haji Hanifa Jan (contesting as an Independent candidate) as he filed his nomination papers before the assistant returning officer.

Sajjad Kargili too filed nomination papers as Independent candidate. Kargili is a member of the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA).

The KDA, along with the Leh Apex Body (LAB), had launched an agitation long ago to get the Sixth Schedule and statehood for the Union Territory. In the 2019 LS polls, while Jamyang was able to bag 42,914 votes, Kargili was the runner up with 31,984 votes.

It will be a four-cornered contest if any of the candidates doesn’t withdraw. BJP’s Tashi Gyalson, Congress candidate T Namgyal and Independents Sajjad Kargili and Haji Hanifa Jan will be facing one another on May 20.

Kargili, while talking to mediapersons, said he was contesting as the voice of the Ladakh youth. He however pointed out that all stakeholders from Kargil were not taken in confidence before announcing the name of Hanifa Jan.

“There is a sense of desperation in youth as some political parties forced their candidates on them,” said Kargili who is likely to cause further division of non-BJP votes. The last date of withdrawal of nomination is May 6.

Congress candidate Tsering Namgyal filed his nomination papers on Thursday, and said the party’s manifesto contains including Ladakh in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. “We support the four-point demand of the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and KDA, and we will forcefully raise the demands within and outside the Parliament to fulfil aspirations of the people,” he said, seeking support from the voters across the UT. The LAB and KDA are jointly spearheading an agitation for the past four years to demand statehood for Ladakh, its inclusion in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, separate Lok Sabha seats for Leh and Kargil and jobs for the local youth. (With inputs)

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