Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir): In a major setback to the National Conference (NC) amid the ongoing Lok Sabha election, the party is facing a significant revolt in Kargil district of Ladakh as the local leaders resigned en masse from the party's leadership ahead of the voting for the parliamentary election. The move comes in response to a directive from the NC high command, urging Kargil members to support the INDIA bloc candidate, Tsering Namgyal, for the Ladakh parliamentary seat, a decision that was met with resistance by the Kargil cadre.
During a press conference, Additional Secretary, J&K National Conference (Kargil Ladakh), Qamar Ali Akhoon, revealed the mass resignation, attributing it to the high command's pressure to endorse the Congress-led INDIA bloc candidate, Tsering Namgyal. In the joint resignation letter, the Kargil unit emphasized the Ladakh Democratic Alliance's unanimous decision to support Mohmad Haneefa alias Haji Hanifa Jan as an Independent Candidate for the 1-Ladakh Parliamentary Constituency.
Despite persistent pressure from the party's high command to support the INC candidate from Ladakh, the Kargil faction of both J&K NC and INC vehemently opposed this directive. Consequently, citing the welfare of Ladakh's people as their priority, the Kargil unit resigned en masse from all party positions, including that of the Additional General Secretary NC.
Speaking to ETV Bharat on Phone, Akhoon reiterated their commitment to the welfare of Ladakh's populace over party interests, affirming support for the Ladakh Democratic Alliance's joint candidate, Haji Hanifa, in the upcoming elections.
"We have written a letter to the party (NC) president Dr. Farooq Abdullah and that should be considered as a mass resignation of all party functionaries from the primary membership of J&K National Conference," Akhoon stated.
The resignation letter signed by Akhoon underscored the collective decision of the Ladakh Democratic Alliance to support Mohmad Haneefa as the Independent Candidate, stressing the rejection of pressure from the party's high command to endorse the INC candidate from Ladakh.
The letter read: "In the interest of the Ladakh region as a whole and in order to secure the future of our region, the Ladakh Democratic Alliance has unitedly decided to project a Joint Candidate namely Mohmad Haneefa as Independent Candidate for the forthcoming Lok Sabha Election from 1- Ladakh Parliamentary Constituency supported by all the Political and Religious Institutions unanimously coming across the party/religious affiliations. The party high command is pressurizing us (both telephonically as well on social media) to support the official candidate of INC from Ladakh which is unacceptable to us including J&K NC and INC Unit Kargil."
It further said, "In this connection, as the party insists us to act against the interest of the people of Ladakh, so we are compelled to resign en masse from all party functionaries including the undersigned from the party post.This letter may be considered as mass resignation of all party functionaries from the primary membership of J&K National Conference."
Notably, while the NC-Congress alliance in Kargil had nominated a joint candidate for the Ladakh Lok Sabha seat, the seat allocation favored Congress per the agreement between the two parties.
Meanwhile, independent candidates Sajjad Kargili and Kacho Mohmad Feroz have withdrawn their nominations for the Lok Sabha election from Ladakh seat which is scheduled to go to polls in the fifth phase on May 20. An estimated 1,82 lakh voters are expected to exercise their franchise in the election.
