Chhamb (Jammu), September 17: It is perhaps the toughest electoral battle for former deputy chief minister and Congress candidate Tara Chand of Jammu district’s Chhamb with rebels from both his party and the BJP stirring up trouble in this Congress bastion.
Since veteran Congress leader Chajju Ram first won the Chhamb seat in 1962, the Congress has won the constituency seven times in the past nine elections.
Tara Chand, 61, who had won the Chhamb seat twice in 2002 and 2008 but lost to the BJP in 2014, is currently in a four-way contest with BJP candidate Rajiv Sharma, anti-government Congress candidate Satish Sharma and anti-government BJP candidate Narendra Singh.
Tara Chand, who served as the Congress Legislative Party leader, deputy chief minister and Jammu and Kashmir Assembly speaker during the Mufti Sayeed and Omar Abdullah governments, chose to contest after his traditional constituency, Chhamb seat, was recently de-reserved.
Driving an Audi through this rural constituency on the banks of the Chenab river, Tara Chand, who is carrying out an intense door-to-door campaign to woo voters, played down the rebellion factor and said it would not affect his chances of winning.
He stressed that his past experience in development work would stand him in good stead and listed his achievements at public gatherings.
“I will win this seat with the support of the people. It was their confidence that made me choose this traditional constituency after the abolition of reservation. I have done a lot of development work here and changed its face,” Tara Chand told PTI.
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