Mohmad Haneefa, Independent MP from Ladakh meets Rahul Gandhi in Delhi
New Delhi, June 11 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) Mohmad Haneefa, the Independent MP from Ladakh, along with some local leaders met Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in the national Capital on Tuesday, sparking off a buzz about his likely support to the Congress-led INDIA bloc. Any official statement to this effect is yet to come but speculations are rife over his extending support to the INDIA bloc. Notably, just two days after the election results, an Independent MP from Maharashtra’s Sangli constituency Vishal Patil pledged his support to the Congress party. He had met party President Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi before announcing support to the Opposition-led alliance. Mohmad Haneefa, who fought Lok Sabha elections from Ladakh Union Territory as an Independent, dealt a blow to the BJP by snatching this seat from its hold. Mohmad Haneefa, a rebel National Conference (NC) leader defeated the rivals Tsering Namgyal of Congress and Tashi Gyalson of BJP with an impressive margin. Out of Ladakh’s 1.35 lakh votes, Haneefa received 65,259 while the BJP and Congress bagged 31,956 and 37,397 votes respectively. Days ago, the Ladakh MP told a publication that he was yet to take a call on supporting any party or alliance at the Centre and would do so after consulting all the stakeholders of the Union Territory as the Sixth Schedule status and statehood were the biggest demands of the people there. After the June 4 election results, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) formed its third-consecutive government under the leadership of PM Modi while Congress-led INDIA bloc marked its best performance with 99 seats in the last three Lok Sabha elections of 2014, 2019 and 2024. —
