Rahul Gandhi takes on J&K CM Omar Abdullah for not empowering panchayats

NEW DELHI: The Congress is set to pile pressure on J&K CM Omar Abdullah to devolve powers to panchayats, after heir apparent Rahul Gandhi flagged the lack of empowerment of grass roots at a meeting of the Congress Working Committee on Tuesday.

“It is a serious issue which requires attention,” Rahul said, endorsing the concern expressed by Gulchain Singh Charak that panchayats were languishing without powers after one-and-a-half years of elections.

The issue came up in the backdrop of a spate of killings of sarpanchs by terrorists and resignations from elected panchayat leaders under threat.

The Centre is concerned that J&K is squandering the benefits of big turnouts in the panchayat polls last year when people braved threats of terrorists. “They feel stranded . It was a great initiative to end terror and they came out in big numbers. But after oneand-a-half years, they don’t have financial or administrative powers and are also facing guns,” a Congress minister told TOI.

Rahul’s intervention set the ball rolling at the Centre, with the tribal affairs ministry set to take up the issue with Abdullah. “Panchayat empowerment” could become the next flashpoint between the Congress and the NC which have faced a testy alliance over the last year.

Sources said the concern over panchayats may gain centrestage when Rahul holds the Youth Congress national executive from October 1-5 in the state.

The discussion at the apex level is seen as critical in view of the leadership’s worries on this front. “Now that the party has taken a position, we will raise the demand with Abdullah,” a key Union minister said. Panchayat elections were held in the sensitive frontier state in May 2011, after a gap of 34 years, and over 80% defied the threat from terrorists to vote. It was hailed as another sign of strengthening political system in the state once ruled by guns.