Congress’ Poll Push in J&K Hit as Campaign Chief Unhappy over Ticket Allocation

Jammu: With the first phase of the Lok Sabha polls inching closer, Congress party in Jammu and Kashmir has been trapped in a 'Catch-22' as their own Campaign Committee Chairman for the contesting candidates has gone incommunicado as he is allegedly miffed for not being given a ticket from Jammu Lok Sabha seat. The Campaign Committee of the party has reportedly not met even once since the announcement of the candidates due to unavailability of its Chairman Tara Chand.

Party Insiders told Republic that not even a single board or poster of the contesting candidates has been put up anywhere in the twin constituencies by the party, except those which have been done by the candidates themselves. The reason cited for the same is that the Campaign Committee Chairman hasn't called for any meeting to take a call on the strategy of the party for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. "The last official meeting of the Congress Campaign Committee was held on February 22 and even post that there were few similar meetings where the strategy was discussed but after the announcement of tickets, not a single meeting of the Campaign Committee was convened as its chairman Tara Chand is not happy with ticket allocation," he added.

On Tara Chand being denied ticket, party sources have said that it was a very clear instruction from the top brass that party loyalists will be given tickets and specially those who stood with the party in the last 10 years. "Raman Bhalla has been in the party without any 'exit' and is the working President of the party who has his ground in the Lok Sabha constituency for which he has been given a ticket. Tara Chand, no doubt, is former Deputy Chief Minister but has also switched over to Azad's Democratic Progressive Azad Party for a couple of months when Azad left Congress in 2022," he added.

Several senior leaders in Jammu and Kashmir of the Congress party have also informed the high command about this concerning development which can dent the party's prospects in two seats of Jammu region. "We have conveyed it at our own level, the ruling party is going all guns blazing while we are delaying this a lot due to which we might suffer in the polls which are not even 20 days from now," a senior Congress leader said.