The Congress suffered a setback in Jammu and Kashmir after Vikramaditya Singh, son of senior Congress leader Karan Singh, quit the party on Tuesday.
Singh had joined the Congress in October 2017 after resigning from the PDP. He had joined the PDP at the instance of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and had been nominated to the legislative council which was abolished after the removal of Article 370 in August 2019. "I hereby tender my resignation from the primary membership of the Indian National Congress [INC] with immediate effect," Singh wrote in his letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi
"It is my belief that the INC is unable to realise and reflect the sentiments and aspirations of the people of Jammu & Kashmir.
Singh had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election on the Congress ticket against BJP leader Jitendra Singh.
Ajatshatru Singh, his brother, was a well known leader of the National Conference before joining the BJP in 2015.
Jammu and Kashmir is likely to witness elections before winter and all political parties have become active to drum up public support.
The Election Commission will announce the poll dates after the Delimitation Commission submits its final report before May 6. The Commission has proposed seven additional seats to the J&K Assembly, six of them in Jammu and one in Kashmir. The BJP had already gone on an overdrive with several important leaders visiting the UT to chalk out a strategy to emerge victorious in the elections. The party has set a goal of winning 50 seats for itself. Observers believe after the delimitation, the BJP is planning to win the maximum number of seats from Jammu division. The BJP is also focussing on Kashmir though chances of the party winning any assembly seat in the region are thin.
The BJP’s main rival in the elections is the Gupkar Alliance, a five party alliance of regional parties, led by Farooq Abdullah.
The alliance had won half (110) of the total number of seats in the first ever District Development Council (DDC) elections held after the revocation of Article 370.
The BJP emerged as the single largest party with 75 seats, but the Gupkar Alliance won more seats than the BJP, thwarting its chances of taking control of the DDCs.
