Kargil: Roads have reached where they never had before and there is water in every home, says BJP’s Ladakh election in-charge Vikram Randhawa, confident the “drastic changes” in the lives of the people in the region will reap electoral dividends and give the party a hat-trick in the polls.
He said the BJP government fulfilled Ladakh’s 70-year dream of becoming a union territory and added that people won’t be “ungrateful”.
“People of Ladakh go with the nation. The dream that the people of Ladakh had to get a union territory was fulfilled by Narendra Modi ji in 2019. Definitely we are going to the people with this,” Randhawa told PTI as Ladakh gets ready to vote on May 20 in the fourth phase of the general elections.
This is the first Lok Sabha election since 2019 when the government abrogated Section 370 and bifurcated the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir into the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
“In five years, since the abrogation of Article 370, drastic changes have happened in Ladakh in terms of development. Even a layperson says roads have reached where they had never reached before, and water supply has reached every home under Jal Jeevan Mission,” he said.
“Many such schemes have benefitted people of Ladakh, and they cannot be thankless. Zojila tunnel, on which many MPs just gave empty promises, was fulfilled by the Modi government.”
Talks over the demands of the people of Ladakh will continue, Randhawa added.
“Modi ji sees all Indians from the same perspective. He said he’s not prime minister but ‘Pradhan Sevak’. For him, sky is the limit,” Randhawa said.
“Whenever any demands are raised which are within the parameters of the Constitution, we feel it can be provided, it is the right of people, we grant it. Talks are always open. The Ministry of Home Affairs has called representatives of LAB and KDA to Delhi many times and held talks with them,” he said.
“It took 70 years to give a UT (to Ladakh)… and then if we say that matters of the next hundred years should be settled in five years. It’s not possible.”
He said the BJP’s candidate Tashi Gyalson has done well as the CEC of Leh and will act as a bridge.
It’s a three cornered fight in Ladakh with BJP’s Gyalson, Congress’ Tsering Namgyal and independent candidate from Kargil Mohammad Haneefa Jan.
“Some people have tried to create a divide. I don’t think voters can be so ignorant that on one hand, there is a flood of development, future of their children, and on the other hand there is Kargil vs Leh,” Radhawa said.
Confident that the BJP’s target of ‘400 paar’ will be achieved with party members working hard on the ground, he hit out at the Congress and said, “When there is a government which is coming for the third term, and we are talking of development, why are you going on the lines of sectarianism?”
Randhawa, a former MLC from Jammu and Kashmir, also said surprise results will come from the Valley and the party will win both seats in Jammu.
“BJP will get both seats in Jammu with a good margin. On the three seats that we are not fighting, the Centre decided something keeping in mind the situation that is prevailing. Perhaps it was done so that votes do not get split between BJP and like minded people who are working in Kashmir, or the Anantnag -Rajouri seat.
“You will see… a surprise decision will come from Kashmir, new and young people will win,” he said.
The National Conference (NC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) are the two main regional parties in Kashmir. Also in the fray are Altaf Bukhari’s Apni Party, Sajad Lone’s Peoples Conference, and Ghulam Nabi Azad’s Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP). BJP is not officially in alliance with any party in Kashmir.
On the current MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal being dropped, he said the party may have a different role for him. He also said Namgyal has done good work in the Union Territory, and the BJP will benefit from it.
Ladakh, a sprawling cold desert region which holds the distinction of being India’s largest constituency in terms of area, will vote on May 20. Ladakh has around 1.84 lakh voters of which around 96,000 are in the Kargil district and over 88,000 are in Leh district.
