Historic First: NC and BJP Join Hands in Kargil to Pass ₹255 Crore Council Budget

For the first time in political history, the National Conference and the Bharatiya Janata Party have joined hands on a public issue, coming together in Ladakh’s Kargil district to pass the local council's annual budget. This move comes after the two-and-a-half-year alliance between the National Conference and the Congress party collapsed in the region.

The 255 crore rupee budget for the Kargil Autonomous Hill Development Council had been stuck since May, putting local development work on hold. It finally passed after 20 of the 30 council members voted in favor. The support came from all 12 National Conference councillors, six BJP councillors, one Congress member, and one independent. Meanwhile, nine Congress councillors and one independent chose to boycott the session.

The dispute started in May when the council's chief, Dr. Mohammad Jaffar Akhoon, refused to step down. Under a deal made before the 2023 elections, the National Conference was supposed to run the council for the first half of the term and then hand leadership over to the Congress. Dr. Akhoon finished his two-and-a-half-year stint in April but decided to stay on, saying that the creation of new districts in Ladakh required stable leadership. In response, a group of 16 councillors filed a no-confidence motion against him, which stopped the budget from moving forward.

After the budget passed, Dr. Akhoon said the vote shows he still has majority support. He pointed out that the rivals who claimed to have 16 votes against him could not prove it in the house. With the Congress now sidelined, he plans to soon fill two executive posts that were left vacant when Congress members resigned.

This shift comes just after the Ladakh administration announced plans to set up autonomous councils in all seven of its districts, following the creation of several new districts earlier this year.

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