J&K Cong launches campaign for panchayat polls

Jammu, May 21 (PTI) The Jammu and Kashmir unit of the Congress on Sunday launched its campaign for the forthcoming panchayat elections in the Union territory.

The launch of the campaign coincided with the 32nd death anniversary of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi who, the party said, was the architect of the panchayati raj system in the country.

Panchayat and urban local bodies in the Union territory are completing their five-year terms between November 5 and January 9, 2024. The election schedule is yet to be announced.

Launching the campaign, Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee president Vikar Rasool Wani exhorted the workers to gear up for the local body elections.

The winds of change have started blowing in the country from Karnataka, where the Congress won the just-concluded assembly polls, following the successful Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi, he said.

“Every true Congress supporter should be ready to respond to the call of the party high command as a disciplined soldier and unitedly fight to bring the Congress back to the power to serve the people and defeat the politics of hate and division,” Wani said.

Paying rich tribute to the former prime minister, the Congress leader said he was the architect of the panchayati raj system in the country.

He transferred the power to people at the grassroots level, Wani said.

Accusing the BJP of snatching the democratic rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir by downgrading the state and by not holding elections to the assembly for five years, Wani said, “Our struggle for the restoration of statehood and early holding of the assembly elections will be intensified.”