NC, PDP field ‘consensus nominee’ from Ladakh

Arteev Sharma
Tribune News Service
Jammu/Leh, April 16

In a significant development, the NC, PDP and powerful religious group Islamia School, Kargil (ISK), on Tuesday joined hands and announced a “consensus candidate” for the Ladakh parliamentary seat against the Buddhist candidates of the Congress and BJP from Leh district.

The Kargil unit of the Congress and another powerful religious group Imam Khomeini Memorial Trust are yet to decide whether to support the “consensus candidate” of the NC and PDP or field their own candidate jointly.

“We consulted all groups to finalise a candidate from Kargil for the Lok Sabha elections. After discussions, we decided to field Sajjad Kargili as an Independent candidate, who is the consensus nominee of the NC, PDP, ISK and other groups in Kargil district,” Sheikh Nazir Mehdi Mohammadi, ISK president, said.

Sources, however, said the Congress and the trust did not extend support to the “consensus candidate” of the NC and PDP and were yet to decide on fielding their own “common candidate”.

“We are yet to decide on extending support to any party or an Independent candidate. The decision will be taken in the larger interest of the Kargil region in particular and Ladakh region in general. We will decide on it in a couple of days,” Sheikh Sadiq Rajaye, chairman of the trust, told The Tribune.

The Congress has fielded senior leader and two-time Chief Executive Councillor (CEC) of the Leh Council, Rigzin Spalbar, against the BJP’s incumbent CEC Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, who filed his nomination papers on Tuesday.

‘Chhewang’s resignation not accepted’ 

The BJP on Tuesday said it had not accepted the resignation of former MP and senior Buddhist leader Thupstan Chhewang, who, it claimed, had promised working in the interest of the party. “Resigning from the party and parliamentary seat could be his personal decision but we have not accepted his resignation. Before coming to Ladakh, I have met him and he has assured me of working in the interest of the party,” BJP leader Avinash Rai Khanna said.