A day after the BJP announced an alliance with its coalition partner in the state government, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), for the elections to the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), Leh, the Congress today made it clear that it would go it alone in the polls.
The elections to the 26 constituencies of the Leh council are scheduled for October 17. The 30-member outgoing council has 21 elected Congress members, four BJP members and one Independent member. Four members are nominated.
“We will go it alone and not enter into an alliance with the National Conference or any other group in the council polls. The PDP is insignificant in Leh while the National Conference has dissolved its body in the district, making it insignificant too. The BJP’s alliance with the PDP wouldn’t make any impact. It will be a direct contest between the Congress and the BJP this time,” said Nawang Rigzin Jora, Congress MLA from Leh.
Jora, who is leading the poll campaign and on whom the Congress is solely depending in Leh, said: “We are going to the people on the basis of our performance in the past 10 years. In its 15-month rule at the Centre and more than six months in the coalition government in J&K, the BJP has miserably failed to come up to the expectations of the people.”
“Ultimately, people judge delivery on the ground and we have proved it through our performance,” he said, adding that the “the BJP is utilising all resources at its command to woo the voters. They will bring all their tall leaders and Cabinet ministers to Leh for campaigning but will draw a blank at the end as they have made hollow promises with the people of Ladakh — whether it was the demand for the UT status to Ladakh or opening of the Kailash-Mansarovar road via Demchok for pilgrims.
”On Saturday, the BJP released the first list of 20 candidates for the Leh polls. The BJP state vice-president and election in charge for LAHDC, Sat Sharma, who is also the MLA from Jammu West, had declared that the party would ally with the PDP. He mentioned the names of 16 candidates of the BJP and said the PDP would contest four seats to ensure that they register victory on all these seats. Emboldened by its first-ever victory from the Ladakh seat in the 2014 parliamentary elections, the BJP had to suffer a setback in the last Assembly elections in the cold desert.
