NC will contest J&K Assembly polls: Party leader

After boycotting the municipal and panchayat polls in Jammu and Kashmir, the National Conference (NC) said Friday the party would contest the state Assembly election to prevent the BJP from "installing its proxies via the backdoor".

"The (NC) working committee decision to stay away from polls was limited to ULB (urban local body) and panchayat elections. The decision had nothing to do with the assembly or Parliament elections. We will fight to win the forthcoming elections so as to defend Article 35 A/Article 370 and to prevent the BJP from installing its proxies via the backdoor as they have started doing," party provincial president Nasir Aslam Wani said here.

He was responding to Union minister Jitendra Singh's statement that the NC owed an explanation to the people of the state for its "U-turn" on Article 35A.

"Even if we wanted to boycott the forthcoming elections, people would pressurise us to fight. They are watchful of the BJP and its sequacious henchmen, and in such an uncertain situation, the people would want us to put up a strong front against the contriving RSS and its servile proxies," Wani said.

The NC leader said the party took a stand to stay away from the municipal and panchayat elections in wake of the "vacillating approach" of the Centre towards Article 35A and Article 370. "We have already requested (J&K) Governor S P Malik to plead for the deferment on next hearing of Article 35A in the Supreme Court till the formation of a popular government in the state. And, he has principally agreed to our suggestion."