Cong in dilemma over Ladakh seat

Arteev Sharma

Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 19

The Congress is in a fix over deciding between a Buddhist and a Shia Muslim leader as the party candidate for the prestigious Ladakh Lok Sabha seat —geographically the largest parliamentary seat of the country.

The party sources told The Tribune that the Congress had shortlisted a panel of two candidates, former Chief Executive Councillor of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council Leh and Buddhist face Rigzin Spalbar and former MLA Asgar Ali Karbalaie — a senior Shia Mulism leader from Kargil district.

“We are placed in a good position in Ladakh and don’t want any division of votes this time. In the last parliamentary polls, the division of votes led to the defeat of the Congress candidate, while the party’s rebel candidate was defeated by the BJP candidate with a narrow margin of just 36 votes,” a senior Congress leader from Ladakh said.

“We have submitted the panel of two candidates —Rigzin Spalbar and Asgar Ali Karbalaie — for the Ladakh seat. The final decision on fielding a Buddhist leader or a Shia Muslim will be taken by the party high command, including AICC general secretary Ambika Soni and election campaign in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad in a day or two,” the leader added.

In the 2014 parliamentary polls, the Congress had given mandate to Buddhist leader Tsering Samphel against the BJP’s strong candidate Thupstan Chhewang. The decision had led to strong resentment among the Shia Muslim community in Kargil which unanimously decided to support the Congress rebel, Ghulam Raza.

“It has been a tradition in J&K that a Buddhist be given mandate from the Ladakh seat. The party gives mandate to Hindus from Jammu seats and fields Muslim candidate from Kashmir Valley. In order to maintain high value of pluralism, a Buddhist should be given mandate from Ladakh, but the party high command will take the final call on it,” Tsering Samphel told The Tribune.

It may be recalled that the BJP’s face Chhewang had resigned from the party in November last year, saying all promises made by the party sounded like empty rhetoric. The Congress claims that it has brightened its winning prospects.