Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘jugalbandi’ with party president Amit Shah has sealed the fate of Congress in Jammu & Kashmir.
Pro-Modi wave sweeping across the region swept away heavyweight Congress Ministers enjoying the perks of power for last 12 years under different heads of the Government. Top guns of the Congress, including Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand were defeated by Dr Krishan lal by a margin of 14,790 votes from Chhamb Assembly.
Tara Chand was fighting to retain his seat for the fourth term. He paid the price for remaining aloof to series of scams and charges of corruption leveled against him and his close aides during his term in office. Another Congress heavyweight from Akhnoor, Sham lal Sharma, who was in news for repeatedly raising the issue of Hindu Chief Minister leading the State, also lost at the hands of first timer Rajeev Sharma by a margin of 9,380 votes. His elder brother Madan lal Sharma had earlier lost lok Sabha polls in May 2014.
Third senior Minister of the Congress Raman Bhalla, who had managed to retain his seat along with these two senior Ministers at the peak of Amarnath land row, was defeated by former Jammu Mayor Kavinder Gupta. From Doda R&B Minister Abdul Majeed Wani lost his seat at the hands of rival BJP candidate Shakti Raj by a margin of 4,040 votes. Junior Minister in the Omar Abdullah Government Vikar Rasool Wani from Banihal and Aijaz Ahmad Khan from Gool Arnas managed to retain their seats.