The BJP in Ladakh is facing discontent within its ranks, as sitting Member of Parliament (MP) Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, whom the party has not nominated for the upcoming polls, rallied supporters on Wednesday and expressed his unhappiness over the choice of Tashi Gyalson as the party candidate for the seat.
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“My supporters have assembled spontaneously in Leh today. They are not happy with the nomination. With such a reaction, the big question remains if the party can retain the seat,” Mr. Namgyal said. Lada
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He also hinted at taking a different course of action, without going into details. “I will sit with my supporters and a final decision will be taken. I will consider the sentiments of my supporters and take a collective decision for the interests of Ladakh. People are not ready to accept the nomination,” Mr. Namgyal said.
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The BJP’s poster boy MP, who hogged the limelight for his speeches after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, said he raised the issue of nomination with the party high command. “I did ask the party if I had performed poorly in Parliament, violated the party stand, misbehaved or faced corruption charges. It was an unexpected decision for me,” Mr. Namgyal said, in an open revolt to the decision taken by the party. “As of now, I am with the party and believe in its ideology,” he added.
He recalled that the party won the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council-Leh election and said that it performed well during the hill council election in Kargil. “I think I did contribute to the glory of the party in Ladakh,” he added.
The BJP on Tuesday nominated Tashi Gyalson, an advocate who heads the BJP-led Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council-Leh (LAHDC-L), as its candidate for the Ladakh Lok Sabha seat. His nomination comes in the backdrop of growing demand in Ladakh for statehood and inclusion in the Sixth Schedule.
Sources said the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), an amalgam of several Leh-based and Kargil-based religious, social and political organisations, are likely to field their own candidate in the election. The Congress and the National Conference, which won the LAHDC-Kargil election last year, have already entered into a pre-poll alliance.
Ladakh, with the Buddhist-majority Leh and the Muslim-majority Kargil districts, has one Parliament seat at present. Ladakh was carved out as a Union Territory in 2019 from Jammu and Kashir and will witness its first Lok Sabha polls as a Union Territory. The Ladakh seat has a 1,82,571 voters, including 91,703 male and 90,867 female voters.