Bhubaneshwar Kalita to be the Next Governor of Ladakh?

Guwahati, August 6, 2019:

Congress MP from the Rajya Sabha, Bhubaneshwar Kalita, unexpectedly resigned from his post on Monday at around 9 am in the morning.

This unexpected development sent ripples across the state of Assam and elsewhere, as Kalita is one of the seniormost leaders of the region from the Congress.

Later' Kalita, who had lost the 2019 Lok Sabha election on a Congress ticket, stated that he had resigned due to his party's stand on the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganization Bill and apparent opposition to the revoking of the Article 370 and 35A.

But, perhaps there is more to this whole incident than meets the eye.

Sequence of events:

Kalita had resigned early in the morning, at 9 am.

Later, Kalita clarified that he resigned due to the party's stand in regards to the repealing of the Article 370 as they had pushed for an "extraordinary whip." Moreover, he wrote in his resignation letter that Nehru himself had not been in favour of the Artcle 370, which gives special privileges to the people of Kashmir.

Does this mean that Kalita already knew that the BJP party would abrogate the Article 370 before Amit Shah's 'surprise' announcement? Was he already in talks with the BJP party's leadership?

It is feasible, as Kalita's term as Rajya Sabha MP was set to end in 2020 and this can perhaps be seen as his last-ditch attempt to hang onto power in the twilight of his political career. Did Kalita see this as an opportunity to appease the leaders of the saffron unit?

Kalita has been heavily condemned by 3-time former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who has said that perhaps Kalita has been enticed by the 'lollipop' of the Governorship of Ladakh, one of the two parts of the newly bifurcated Jammu and Kashmir. Gogoi has further alleged that the longtime Congress leader's image and reputation has been tarnished by his decision to flip parties due to the lure of power.

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