National Conference Kargil unit resigns over support to Congress

The Kargil unit of the National Conference rebelled against the party and opposition INDIA bloc, with its workers led by Qamar Ali Akhoon submitting mass resignations and announcing their support for their colleague Haji Haneefa, who will now fight the Lok Sabha election as an independent candidate.

Haneefa faces INDIA bloc candidate Tsering Namgyal and BJP candidate Tashi Gyalson.

The NC unit claimed that the Kargil unit of the Congress has also decided not to support Namgyal of the Congress. The rebels accused the NC leadership of pressuring the workers of the party as well as the Congress in Leh to support the INDIA bloc candidate, which they said was "unacceptable to them."


Akhoon, additional secretary of the NC in Kargil and co-chairman of Kargil Democratic Alliance - a grouping of religious, political, business and social organisations in Kargil - wrote a letter to NC president Farooq Abdullah, expressing his resentment against the party and informing about the decision of mass resignations of party workers.

Akhoon, a prominent leader in Ladakh, accused the NC of insisting that the people of the newly formed Union Territory act against the interests of the region. Under the seat-sharing arrangement for J&K and Ladakh, the NC is supporting the Congress on two seats of Jammu and one seat of Ladakh, while the Congress is supporting the NC on three seats of Kashmir.