Congress’s Lal Singh Accuses Azad’s Party of Fragmenting Opposition Votes

• Fielded by the Congress from Jammu and Udhampur Lok Sabha seats, Raman Bhalla and Choudhary Lal Singh have started aggressive poll campaigning by holding public meetings in different areas of their constituencies.

• Both were defeated in the parliamentary elections in 2019 by BJP candidates.

Congress leader Choudhary Lal Singh (65) on Sunday charged that the decision of the Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) to field former minister GM Saroori instead of party founder Ghulam Nabi Azad from the Udhampur constituency shows that the party is fighting not to win but to cut the votes of the Opposition.

Singh, who recently rejoined the Congress, is pitted against Union Minister Jitendra Singh who is seeking his re-election from the Udhampur Lok Sabha seat for the third consecutive term.

Udhampur parliamentary constituency is going to polls in the first phase on April 19 and, so far, five candidates, including Union minister and DPAP vice chairman and former minister Saroori have filed their nominations.

Meanwhile, fielded by the Congress from Jammu and Udhampur Lok Sabha seats, Raman Bhalla and Choudhary Lal Singh have started aggressive poll campaigning by holding public meetings in different areas of their constituencies. Both were defeated in the parliamentary elections in 2019 by BJP candidates.

While Raman Bhalla was defeated in the last Lok Sabha polls by BJP’s Jugal Kishore Sharma from Jammu, Lal Singh, the then Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan Party chief, was defeated by Jitendra Singh from Udhampur. Both Sharma and Jitendra Singh are contesting again from their respective constituencies for the BJP.

Lal Singh has recently rejoined the Congress. He had resigned from the party in 2014. The Congress candidate from Udhampur in 2019 was Vikramaditya Singh, grandson of last Maharaja of J&K – Hari Singh.

The poll campaign by the saffron party is in full swing in both the constituencies while the Congress announced both of its candidates — Bhalla and Lal Singh — on Saturday evening.

Insiders informed that both the leaders were the only choice of the party who could give competition to the BJP candidates. While Jugal Kishore Sharma from Jammu received 6,19,995 votes in the 2014 polls, the tally increased to 8,58,066 votes in 2019. Bhalla on the other hand was able to bag 5,55,191 votes in 2019. Jitendra Singh from Udhampur got 4,87,369 votes in 2014 whereas he got 7,24,311 votes in 2019. Lal Singh, however, got only 19,049 votes. Congress candidate Vikramaditya Singh was the runner up who got 3,67,059 votes.

The Congress has tried to checkmate Jitendra Singh by fielding a Rajput candidate. Both Lal Singh and Jitendra Singh are Rajputs – a community which is in substantial number in many districts in the constituency.

While it seems that the major regional parties, such as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the National Conference (NC), will not field their candidates on both seats in Jammu division to prevent the division of Muslim votes, smaller parties like the Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) and Apni Party among others will field their candidates which may dent the prospects of the Congress on both the seats.

As per the Census of 2011, Doda district has 53.82% Muslim population, Kishtwar 57.75%, Reasi 49.66% and Ramban 70.68%. Udhampur has 88.12% Hindu population and Kathua 87.61%. These districts form the Udhampur Lok Sabha constituency.

Congress insiders said that the central leadership of the party would start coming to the region to campaign for Udhampur seat which will go to polls on April 19 in the first phase. Meanwhile, Raman Bhalla, along with J&K Pradesh Congress Committee chief Vikar Rasool Wani and others, attended a public rally in Suchetgarh on the outskirts of Jammu.