Barring BJP, top leaders of most parties skip Ladakh

Arteev Sharma
Tribune News Service
Jammu, May 3

Even as only two days are left for polling, top leaders of all major political parties, barring the BJP, gave a miss to poll campaign in the country’s geographically largest parliamentary seat, Ladakh.

On the penultimate day of campaigning too, no top leader of the Congress, National Conference (NC) and PDP canvassed for their respective candidates. There are four candidates in fray from Ladakh seat, which will go to the polls on May 6.

The BJP, on the other hand, launched a spirited campaign in Ladakh with all senior leaders of the state unit and some top central leaders canvassing for candidate and incumbent Chief Executive Councillor (CEC) of Leh Council Jamyang Tsering Namgyal.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Arunachal Pradesh CM Pema Khandu, a senior Buddhist leader, will address the “Progressive Ladakh” rally at Polo Ground in Leh on Saturday while winding up the campaign.

The factionalism-ridden Congress did not invite any central or state leader for campaigning as insiders said it would create more trouble for the party, given the religious differences between Kargil and Leh districts.

“Like the 2014 parliamentary polls, no senior Congress leader visited Ladakh because he or she would have to hold rallies in both districts. The party posed trust in local leadership,” a senior leader from Ladakh said.

Congress has given its mandate to senior Buddhist leader Rigzin Spalbar from Leh, which led to resentment in Kargil, where the party’s former MLA Asgar Ali Karbalai, who has been supported by powerful religious group Imam Khomeini Memorial Trust, Kargil, announced that he would contest as an Independent.

The NC, PDP and the influential Islamia School Kargil have jointly backed a ‘consensus candidate’, Sajjad Hussain Kargili, who organised an impressive rally in Kargil on Friday as a show of strength. NC leader Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar Abdullah have also skipped the election campaign, though they visited Ladakh several times before the polls. PDP chief and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti too avoided campaigning in favour of the consensus candidate.

Meanwhile, the Congress unit organised a 20-km cycle rally from Leh to Thiksay and a 40-km bike rally from Leh to Kharu in support of the party candidate.

BJP still uses Chhewang’s photos on posters

Jammu: Even as prominent Buddhist leader and former MP Thupstan Chhewang resigned from the BJP to protest the party’s failure in granting the UT status to Ladakh, the BJP has been using his photographs on posters and hoardings to woo voters in the region. “Chhewang recently refused to meet any leader of the party, but his photographs on the BJP’s hoardings and posters remained visible during the poll campaign. He (Chhewang) has dissociated himself from all political activities, but the BJP is still exploiting his name for political gains,” a senior Buddhist leader said. On April 16, Avinash Rai Khanna, BJP in charge J&K affairs, had claimed that the BJP had not accepted Chhewang’s resignation.