Former Jammu and Kashmir cabinet minister Chaudhary Lal Singh, who resigned from his post after he participated in the Hindu Ekta Manch rally organised to demand a CBI inquiry in support of the Hindu accused in the Kathua rape-murder case, told The Quint, that an organisation which he has set up, will now contest the upcoming state and Lok Sabha polls in Jammu and Kashmir.
“The Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan has been set up, now you will see this sagathan contest in the upcoming state and Lok Sabha elections,” he said.
The BJP has not formally expelled Singh from the party yet. Singh, who has been the Health and Forest minister in the state cabinet, floated the dogra outfit, Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan, in July 2018. He had insisted then that it was a non-political outfit.
“We were non-political. We didn’t contest the corporation and municipal committee election. We wanted a CBI inquiry and people’s issues to be taken care of. But they have no interest in conducting a CBI inquiry or solving people’s issues,” he told The Quint in the organisation’s office in Jammu’s Gandhinagar.
Lal Singh who was a Congress MP from the Udhampur constituency for two consecutive terms from 2004 to 2014 was asked by the Congress high command to allow Ghulam Nabi Azad to contest from here in 2014. Miffed by this, he did not help Azad campaign and, thereby, was instrumental in Azad losing by 60,000 votes against BJP’s Jitendra Singh. Soon after the Lok Sabha polls, he joined the BJP and was made state minister. What he did to the Congress in 2014, he might repeat with the BJP in the upcoming polls by using his influence in the region.
BJP chief spokesperson, Sunil Sethi told The Quint, “As far as BJP is concerned he continues to be the member for the BJP. So far he said it was a non-political social organisation and we did not have any issue. If he contests, he should resign from BJP and declare. We do not have him to have another political organisation.”
Sethi added that he is not surprised about this. “Lal Singh’s conduct for the last four to five months seemed problematic. He was not attending party meetings, something was up his sleeve. That means Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan was all along a political outfit and not a social outfit as was told to media and people. He should have formed a political outfit six months ago,” he said.
Singh has a strong presence in the dogra community in the Jammu and Udhampur Lok Sabha constituency and commands a considerable influence over the assembly seats in the region. With him forming his own party, there is a concern that he will cut into the Dogra vote for the BJP in the upcoming state and Lok Sabha polls.
Sethi, however, said the BJP’s votebank will not be affected as it is a committed votebank.
Narinder who works as a driver in Jammu said, “No one has done as much work for the Jammu region as Chaudhary Lal Singh has. Whatever his political affiliation, people believe he will work,” he said.
In Kathua, where the rape took place in January last year, everyone The Quint spoke to said that they will vote where Singh goes. The main accused’s Sanji Ram’s daughter said, “I call Singh now also and he always picks up my calls. Few days ago there was a loud thud behind our home, I felt unsafe. I called him and he sent people to see if I was alright.”
The party’s symbol is a lion and a sheep drinking water from the same pond. The slogan of the party is, “Jai Duggar Jai Dogra.” When asked about possible alliances if they won seats in the elections, Singh said, “Not if, when we will win and form government that time we will see who to ally with. We have a charter of 21 demands, whoever helps us implement them we will ally with.”
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