CPM's Mohammed Tarigami Attacks Jamaat-Linked Candidate In Kulgam

Looking to defend the Communist Party of India (Marxist) bastion of Kulgam, which he has won since 1996, Mohammed Yousuf Tarigami is now facing a very different challenge in the form of a candidate backed by the Jamaat-e-Islami. Speaking exclusively to NDTV on Tuesday, Mr Tarigami said this is not the first time the Jamaat has made a U-turn in terms of entering electoral politics and insisted that there is no "green wave" in the red citadel. The CPI(M) leader, who is the consensus candidate of the National Conference-Congress alliance, faces a contest from Sayyar Ahmed Reshi, a candidate backed by the Jamaat, Mohammad Amin Dar from the Peoples Democratic Party and the Apni Party's Engineer Mohammad Aqib in Kulgam, which will vote in the first phase of the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir on September 18.