Regret not taking part in panchayat polls, says Farooq

SRINAGAR: National Conference president and Srinagar member of Parliament Farooq Abdullah on Tuesday said that his party will emerge as the single largest party if elections are held in J&K, while regretting the decision to not take part in the 2018 panchayat polls.

“I am telling you with certainty that if transparent elections are held, the NC will emerge as the largest party,” he said. He was addressing reporters on the sidelines of a function at Sher-i-kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC).

Farooq also said that government officials will be made accountable once there is a people’s government in the erstwhile state and asked J&K Lt Governor Manoj Sinha to make them answerable to the people.

Farooq lambasted the government officials, saying they don’t take phone calls of the people and political leaders.

“They (bureaucrats) will be made accountable for what they have done. Today they consider themselves kings which they are not. They are meant to work for the people of the J&K and are servants of the people,” he said.

Earlier speaking at a function on the parliamentary outreach programme for strengthening Parliamentary Raj Institutions (PRIS) that was also attended by Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla, Farooq said NC shouldn’t have boycotted the panchayat polls in 2018.

“Our party should have taken part in the panchayat and block development council elections. We regret that,” he said.

Soon after the governor rule was imposed in J&K in 2018, National Conference and

the PDP boycotted panchayat polls.