Notwithstanding tall claims of the leaders, the top brass of the J&K unit of BJP are worried these days because the ongoing election campaign for Lok Sabha elections in Jammu province has sent a warning signal for the Saffron Brigade.
Before the beginning of the election process in Jammu and Kashmir, the BJP leadership was over-confident that two seats in Jammu province would be a cakewalk for the party as there was no competition from the opposition side.
As the campaign progressed on the Udhampur-Doda Lok Sabha seat the party leadership realized that situation on the ground was not as favourable as being projected by the local leaders.
Whatsoever may be the results of the two Lok Sabha seats of Jammu province, one thing has been cleared the first time after 2014, the party faced tough competition in the Lok Sabha elections.
Even in 2014 when the then Congress stalwart Ghulam Nabi Azad was contesting against Dr. Jitendra Singh the competition was not as tough as in 2024 when Choudhary Lal Singh was fighting against the Union Minister.
“It is not the question who will win the Lok Sabha elections in Jammu province but the fight being given by “demoralized” Congress workers in this region has revived the grand-old-party in Hindu majority areas”, a senior BJP leader told Gaon Tribune.
Wishing anonymity the BJP leader admitted that Congress has retrieved, to some extent, its lost ground in Hindu-dominated assembly constituencies, especially in the Kathua district, where the party’s presence was almost negligible.
- Important to mention here that in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections BJP secured 2,11,261 votes from the five assembly constituencies of Kathua district. As compared to BJP’s 2,11,261 votes, Ghulam Nabi Azad, who was a Congress candidate at that time, managed to get only 71,502 votes from five assembly segments of the district.
- The situation was more favourable for BJP in the year 2019 when Congress fielded Vikramaditya Singh, the grandson of the last Dogra ruler Maharaja Hari Singh, against Dr. Jitendra Singh.
- Sweeping all the five assembly segments of the district, Dr. Jitendra Singh got 2,75,941 votes, while his Congress rival got only 49,336 votes.
BJP leadership is admitting without hesitating that the aggressive campaign of Choudhary Lal Singh has boosted the morale of the demoralized Congress cadre in Kathua district.
BJP leaders are worried because the revival of the Congress would definitely affect the next assembly elections in this part of Jammu province.
“Lok Sabha election on Udhampur-Doda seat was fought in the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi but the assembly elections would be held on the face value of local candidates”, the BJP leader said and predicted that situation would be very difficult for the party candidates in assembly elections.
“Much before the declaration of the result of Lok Sabha seat of Udhampur-Doda seat, Congress has achieved psychological victory due to aggressive campaign of the party candidate”, he said.
While in Jammu province, the Congress has launched an aggressive campaign to retrieve its lost ground, the failure of the BJP to field a candidate on Anantnag-Rajouri has demoralized party workers because Pahari-speaking people including Muslims were ready to support the party in this Parliamentary segment.
