The meeting of newly elected Lok Sabha member Haji Haneefa Jan with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader Rahul Gandhi is a clear indication that the rebel National Conference leader is likely to join the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) alliance.
Before meeting Congress leaders, Haji Haneefa Jan met with the National Conference Vice-President and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in New Delhi.
Sources said that it was only after Omar Abdullah's suggestion that Haji Haneefa Jan met with Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi to highlight issues related to Ladakh before the top leadership of the Congress.
"We met with Congress leadership to seek the support of the INDIA to address our demands including the sixth schedule and statehood for Ladakh", Jan, who was accompanied by the Chief Executive Council of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council Kargil Mohammad Jaffar Aknoon, told media persons.
He, however, said that the decision to join the INDIA bloc formally will be taken after consultation with all stakeholders of Ladakh.
Although the National Conference had directed its workers and cadre to support the candidate of the INDIA alliance Tsering Namgyal on the Ladakh seat, party leadership wasted no time in owning the victory of Haji Haneefa Jan on this seat.
Former Chief Minister and Vice-President of the National Conference, Omar Abdullah, congratulated Haji Haneefa within minutes after the declaration of the result.
Omar Abdullah promptly congratulated Haneefa Jan, acknowledging his perseverance and representing the marginalized people of Kargil in the Lok Sabha. "To @HajiHanifa, I'm really very happy for you today. A few months ago, you tasted defeat in the hill council elections, & now you will represent Ladakh, especially the marginalized people of Kargil in the Lok Sabha," Abdullah posted on social media.
"Thank you @OmarAbdullah ji! Your words truly mean a lot to me. It is an incredible honor to represent Ladakh in the Lok Sabha. This victory is not just mine; it belongs to every individual who believed in my cause and worked tirelessly to make it happen", the rebel NC leader replied.
A similar episode occurred in 2009, when the rebel National Conference candidate Ghulam Hassan Khan defeated the official candidate of the NC-Congress alliance P Namgyal and later joined the Congress-headed UPA-II.
Rebel National Conference leader, who contested the election as Independent candidate Mohammad Haneefa Jan, won the Ladakh Lok Sabha seat by defeating both the Congress and BJP candidates. This marks a major upset for the BJP, which had held the seat in the previous two elections.
Haneefa Jan, a rebel leader from the National Conference (NC), secured 64,443 votes, significantly outpacing his nearest rival, Congress candidate Tsering Namgyal, who garnered 35,770 votes. The BJP candidate, Tashi Gyalson, chairman of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) Leh, finished third with 31,505 votes.
Repetition of 2009 in 2024
This election result was a repetition of history because the same episode happened in 2009, when the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir was governed by a coalition of the National Conference (NC) and the Congress. According to their seat-sharing agreement, the Ladakh Lok Sabha seat was allocated to the Congress, which fielded senior leader P. Namgyal.
However, Ghulam Hassan Khan, a prominent National Conference leader, rebelled and entered the electoral race for the Ladakh seat. He received support from leaders of the Kargil unit of the National Conference, as well as backing from the Islamia School and the Khomeini Trust.
Khan won the Ladakh Lok Sabha seat as an Independent candidate, defeating the Congress nominee from the coalition. Following his victory, Khan extended unconditional support to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) at the request of NC President Dr. Farooq Abdullah.
