Farooq playing party politics ahead of panchayat polls: Madhav

New Delhi, Sep 9: BJP general secretary Ram Madhav who also in charge of the party affairs in the state, accused NC chief Farooq Abdullah of adopting double standards on holding elections.
Questioning Abdullah’s National Conference participation in the just held Kargil polls, he said, “If Farooq Abdullah is objecting to panchayat polls over 35A issue then why did he contest Kargil polls?”
The BJP leader also accused Abdullah of crushing the democratic rights of people. He said: “Farooq Abdullah has always done politics and never made efforts to ensure democratic rights of people. Now when Modiji is trying to do so he is speaking against it.”
Madhav said this while reacting to Abdullah’s last week’s announcement that his party will stay away from the upcoming municipal and panchayat polls in the border state, saying the situation was not conducive for such an exercise. On Saturday, Abdullah moved a step ahead when he threatened that his National Conference will boycott the 2019 Lok Sabha and Assembly polls if the Centre does not clarify its stand on Article 35A and Article 370.
“We will not only boycott the municipal and Panchayat polls but also the Lok Sabha and state Assembly elections if the Centre does not clarify its stand on Article 35A and Article 370,” he had told reporters on Saturday.
In the recently concluded Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) Kargil polls, the NC had emerged as the single largest party with 10 seats. The PDP and BJP won only two and one seats, respectively in the 26-member elected House.
As per the schedule, the municipal polls in the state will be held in four phases between October 1 and October 5 whereas the panchayat polls will be held in eight phases between November 8 and December 4.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Kashmir Monitor staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)