Leh, Apr 30:
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju Tuesday exuded confidence that the BJP will win the Ladakh parliamentary seat in Jammu and Kashmir as there is a strong wave in favour of the party in the region. He said the people of Ladakh have “realised” that only a BJP-led government can do justice to them as they were ignored by the successive Congress governments at the Centre. “There is a strong wave in favour of BJP in the Ladakh region. People are looking to see Narendra Modi again to be sworn-in as the Prime Minister of the country,” Rijiju said addressing poll rallies at Diskit in Nobra and Zanskar. “The BJP will win the Ladakh seat with a huge margin,” he added. The Ladakh Lok Sabha constituency, spread over districts of Leh and Kargil, has four assembly segments — Kargil, Zanskar, Leh and Nubra. The seat will go to polls on May 6 and over 1.74 lakh electorate will exercise their right to franchise. The Union Minister of State for Home Affairs said the demand for granting a division status to Ladakh was conceded by the Modi government. The demand for the Union Territory status for Ladakh would also be followed up in the same spirit, he told the audience. In a major decision on February 8, the Jammu and Kashmir administration had created a separate division for Ladakh, which was part of the Kashmir division earlier. Ladakh now has have a separate divisional commissioner and an inspector general of police (IG) with a full administrative and revenue division at par with Kashmir and Jammu divisions.
Rijiju said the demand to include the “Bothi” language in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution had been taken up in the Home Ministry before the elections and assured the people that it will be followed up after the polls are over.
“The successive Congress governments at the Centre and the state deliberately discriminated against the Ladakh region because of their Kashmir-centric priorities,” he alleged.
Rijiju was flanked by BJP state president Ravinder Raina, BJP Ladakh candidate Jamyang Tsering Namgyal and former minister and MLC Tsering Dorje.
Raina appealed to people to vote in favour of the BJP candidate for political stability and development of the region.
While Namgyal is the BJP candidate, Rigzin Spalbar is contesting on a Congress ticket from the seat.
Asgar Ali Karbalai, a Congress leader, has filed nominations as an independent candidate.
Another independent candidate Sajjad Hussain has the backing of the influential clergy in Kargil.
Thusptan Chewwang of the BJP had won the 2014 election from the constituency by a wafer-thin margin of 36 votes, defeating independent candidate Ghulam Raza and two others in the contest.
Chewwang resigned from the BJP and the Lok Sabha last year, accusing the party of not fulfilling the promises made to the people of Ladakh during the elections five years ago.
