Controversial Choudhary Lal Singh To Retrieve Congress Bastion (image: facebook.com/thechlalsingh)
The nomination of controversial Choudhary Lal Singh by the Congress in the assembly polls sparked controversy from various fronts. Earlier, the Dogra leader has drawn wrath for supporting accusers in the Kathua rape and murder case. In the polls, the grand old party fielded him from Basohli in Kathua. Aside from the flak received from outside, his candidacy has evoked criticism from within Congress, especially from Muslim leaders.
In 2018, he held a Tiranga rally supporting the suspects who had committed heinous crime to the the eight-year-old girl from the tribal Gujjar community in Kathua and described it as a conspiracy aimed at Hindus. His remarks generated nationwide protest and outrage and Lal Singh who was then serving as a Forest Minister in the PDP-BJP coalition government in Kashmir had to resign from the post.
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Lal Singh’s political career is marked by shifting loyalties and allegiances. His entry into politics was with Congress as a student leader. In 1996, he contested from Basohli under All India Indira Congress (Tiwari) faction and won. In 2002, he retained the seat by defeating BJP leader Jagdish Raj Sapolia and was included in the State Cabinet ministry.
In 2004, he made his debut entry to Lok Sabha from Udhampur constituency and in 2009, he retained the position as well. However, being denied ticket in 2014 Lok Sabha election, Lal Singh parted ways with the Congress and joined BJP. He contested from Basohli on a BJP ticket and won the seat by defeating National Conference’s Davinder Singh by a margin of 17,801 votes. Though he inducted into the PDP-BJP coalition government, he had to resign his post over the Kathua controversy.
After ending his brief outing with the BJP, Lal Singh founded the Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan Party (DSSP) ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election. He contested from Udhampur on a DSSP ticket, but attained only fourth position. On March 2024, he rejoined Congress on the pre-condition that he could contest from Udhampur as the party candidate. However, in the polls, Lal Singh lost the seat to BJP rival Dr Jitendra Singh by a margin of 1,24,373 votes.
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As per the reports, Lal Singh’s Basohli candidacy is a strategic move by the Congress to consolidate votes in the Hindu-dominated region to topple the BJP’s upper hand. He is pitted against BJP candidate Darshan Kumar and PDP’s Yoginder Singh.
Basohli assembly segment falls under Udhampur parliamentary constituency. Though the seat is considered as a Congress bastion, the previous two elections, 2008 and 2014, favoured BJP.
