Tara Chand: To Regain Congress Stronghold In Chhamb (image: facebook.com/ Tara Chand)

Senior Congress leader Tara Chand is the Dalit face of the party. In the 2024 Jammu and Kashmir assembly polls, he is contesting from Chhamb, his home turf. Chand has served as the Deputy Chief Minister of the Jammu and Kashmir government from 2009 to 2014.

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His political journey over the course of the past few years has been marked by significant shifts in loyalty and allegiance. On August 30, 2022, he quit from the Congress in support of Ghulam Nabi Azad in Jammu. He stated that Azad’s vision will forge a new and bright future for Jammu and Kashmir.

However, within a few months after the launch of the party, the Democratic Azad Party (DAP), Azad expelled Chand and two leaders, citing their involvement in anti-party activities.

Soon after being expelled, Chand stated that the decision to resign from Congress was a “blunder” and added that they would continue to be secular till last breath. Later, he, along with 17 leaders rejoined Congress in January last year.

Chand secured victory from the Chhamb assembly constituency since 1996. But in 2014, his attempts to establish a fourth win from the constituency were thwarted by the BJP’s Kirshan Lal. Lal defeated Chand by a margin of 14790 votes.

Chand began his political career as district general secretary of the SC/OBC cell of the Congress and then climbed the ladder as general secretary of the Youth Congress and became Chhamba legislator. During his first term as MLA, he had also served as Congress Legislature Party leader. In 2002, when the grand old party formed the coalition government with the PDP, Tara Chand was elected as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.

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In the Assembly polls, he is pitted against BJP rival Rajeev Sharma, Congress rebel Satish Sharma, and BJP rebel Narendra Singh, fighting as Independents. Not only wresting the constituency back from the BJP, proving his mettle also makes these polls a crucial one for Chand.