The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has withdrawn its support to the National Conference (NC)-headed Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), Kargil chapter, in the newly-created Ladakh Union Territory, but the NC sounds confident that it has the numbers to complete the term, which ends in 2023.
In a letter, BJP State president Phunchok Stanzin on Wednesday announced that the seven BJP councillors were withdrawing their support to the 30-member LAHDC, Kargil.
The BJP’s letter reads: “Due to lackadaisical approach, the Council is not serving its constitutional responsibilities. The funds were not translated into a transparent and accountable manner. The influence of the NC is also not favouring public welfare. The NC is resorting to vendetta politics, which creates mistrust between the public and the Council.”
The LAHDC polls, held in 2018, saw the NC winning 10 seats and the BJP winning just one out of 26 seats. However, all four nominated seats went to the BJP. Moreover, two councillors, Mohsin Ali and Mohammad Ali Chandan, who won on Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) tickets, joined the BJP after the revocation of Jammu & Kashmir’s special status on August 5, 2019.
“We have the numbers. The NC has the support of more than 14 councillors. It can easily get the support of the Congress [eight seats] to run the council. In fact, the NC should have shown the BJP the way out long ago. The BJP tag was denting the NC’s image in Ladakh,” senior NC leader Qamar Ali Akhoon told The Hindu.
The BJP’s decision comes at a time when Union Home Minister Amit Shah has been repeatedly hinting at elections in Jammu & Kashmir. The coalition would have dented the image of both the NC and the BJP as they remain the main rivals in the Union Territory of J&K.
“This is a publicity stunt to salvage image, as the BJP’s image in Ladakh is dented due to the poor performance of the BJP MP. There was no written pact between the NC and the BJP. I fail to understand how, when there was no marriage between the two, a divorce has taken place. It was the PDP’s councillors who supported the NC in 2018,” Sajjad Kargili, a local politician, said.
Ladakh is a Union Territory with no Legislative Assembly. Instead, it has two hill councils — in Kargil and Leh. However, the power of the councils saw a decline after August 2019. “The powers on budgetary allocation, recruitment and transfers already stand enervated,” NC leader Akhoon said.
