Srinagar, May 7 (IANS) Former Chief Minister and NC President, Dr Farooq Abdullah on Tuesday directed the rebels of the Kargil unit of his party, who resigned en masse, to vote for the Congress in Ladakh Lok Sabha constituency.

The NC said in a post on its X handle on Tuesday, “NC President Dr Farooq Abdullah has directed the Kargil unit of the party to support the INDIA bloc candidate Tsering Namgyal in the Lok Sabha election for the Ladakh seat. He has told his colleagues that failure to follow this directive will be seen as a serious breach of party discipline.”

Ironically, Dr Abdullah’s directive came a day after the entire Kargil unit of the NC resigned en masse from the party.

In a letter written to Dr Abdullah, Qamar Ali Akhoon, Additional General Secretary of the NC, said the entire unit of the party had resigned in the “larger interest of Ladakh.”

Haji Hanifa Jan, former CEO of the Kargil Autonomous Hill Development Council, filed nomination papers for the Ladakh Lok Sabha seat as an Independent against Tsering Namgyal of the Congress and Tashi Gyalson of the BJP.

Qamar Ali Akhoon and Feroze Khan, two senior NC leaders and local Congress leaders had accompanied Haji Hanifa Jan to the Returning Officer when he filed his papers.

Seen in this background, the directive of Dr Abdullah to NC rebels has the proverbial similarity to a general ordering his deserted army to move to the front against the enemy.

Ladakh constituency goes to vote on May 20.