Omar Abdullah government exposed over failure to hold ULB polls: BJP

JAMMU: The failure of the the ruling National Conference-led government in Jammu and Kashmir to hold elections to urban local bodies ( ULB) in the state belied the ruling coalition's stated commitment to grassroots democracy, state BJP said today.

"The Omar Abdullah-government's decision to repeatedly postpone the elections to ULBs on one pretext or the other and non-implementation of the 73rd Amendment Act to empower the elected Panchayats has exposed its... lust to remain in power," BJP state president Jugal Kishore Sharma told the media at a ceremony here.

Sharma said that BJP's rise in the state, too, had served to discourage the NC-government from going ahead with the said elections.

"BJP is gaining popularity by the day and the National Conference and Congress are getting panicky.

"That is the reason why the coalition government has backed out of its promise to hold elections to ULBs and deferred the same indefinitely," he said.