SRI NAGAR: Feuds within political families and an intense battle between the parties themselves are turning the Lok Sabha electoral contest in Jammu and Kashmir into a season of ‘Game of Thrones’. As in the popular TV show, the families that make up J&K’s landscape are facing conflict within and without, their allegiances drawing the battle lines.
State BJP leader and Union Minister of State for the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Jitendra Singh, seeking a re-election from the Udhampur-Doda Lok Sabha seat in Jammu, is facing political heat from his younger brother Devender Singh Rana, the National Conference president in Jammu. Although Devender is not contesting the elections, he is seeking votes for the Congress’s choice, Vikramaditya Singh, the grandson of Maharaja Hari Singh and a former People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader. The NC has not fielded a candidate for the seat.
Vikramaditya, meanwhile, is poised for a rivalry with his younger brother Ajat Shatru Singh, who is a J&K BJP leader. The two—sons of Congress leader Karan Singh—are campaigning against each other.
In another household, Sham Lal Sharma, a former Congress leader who recently joined the BJP, is pitched against his brother and senior Congress leader Madan Lal Sharma, a two-time Lok Sabha MP from Jammu. Both brothers are campaigning in favour of their party candidates.
In the Valley, while separatist-turned-mainstream politician and People’s Conference chairman Sajjad Gani Lone is campaigning for his party candidates, his brother Bilal Gani Lone — a senior separatist leader and executive member of Hurriyat Conference led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq — is baying for a complete boycott of the parliamentary polls.