Ladakh political scene ....

by NAVREET MILTON

After much waiting finally Congreess high command send two veteran leaders namely Saifudin Soz and Prithvi Raj Chauhan to campaign for its candidate P Namgyal but due to certain compulsions they could not campaign at leh and headed towards Kargil where they held close door meetings with the local congress leaders .

In a hurriedly called press conference , Pritvi Raj Chauhan member Jand K affairs (AICC) while replying to a questions asked by a journalist on the issue of awarding mandate to a person from Leh and not to a Kargalite Chauhan replied that the seat sharing agreement had already been decided between the coalition partner and rumour is being spread to create a controversy .

The coalition Government in the state had already decided to share three seats each. On asking why Gulam Raza who deserved more to contest on Congress ticket from Kargil , was not awarded the ticket Mr Chauhan said that he a seasoned politicitian and does understand the equation of politics well.

Further commenting on the non cooperation between the coalition partners he said that Ladhak has a different culture based on religion and tradition and people prefer it more over politics , however NC leadership in the state has instructed its cadre in Leh as well as Kargil to fully support congress candidate as decided by the senior leaders of both the parties .

On asking about the statement made by a local Congress leader regarding breaking up the coalation at State level on the issue of non awarding the mandate to Kargalite Prithvi Raj Chauhan said, that there is no question of breaking the coalition as senior coalition partners in the state do understand the coalition dharma and thus will abide it very well though there are certain compulsions in local politics but ultimately it’s a mutual understanding .

Relying over the prospectus of P Nangyal after the entry of two strong rival candidates in the fray he mentioned that it is quite possible that a good chunk of votes would be shared among the two stalwarts , however it would not affect much to the vote bank of PNamgyal and he would emerge as victorious .In an another development at Leh town today LUTF rally was organized at Polo ground where atleast two thousand people attended .

The rally was addressed by LUTF supremo Thupstan Chewang and the contesting candidate Thinless Angmo. Addressing the gathering Thinless Angmo asked the youth to vote for a change in the same manner as Americans have selected it’s black president who is youth icon.

(Navreet Milton is a Kargil based Freelancer. Her write ups appear regularly in national and local dailies)