Will urge Omar govt to implement Panchayat Raj Act: Soni

Ruling coalition member Congress today said it will talk to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah over the issue of implementation of the Panchayati Raj (PR) Amendment Act in Jammu and Kashmir and urge him to adopt the same within two months.
"When I go to Srinagar, I will talk to the CM along with Congress MPs and other ministers over this issue," said Congress general secretary and the party's in-charge for J-K, Ambika Soni.
"The state government should specify how much time it needs to implement the amendments, otherwise we will have to find our own way," she added.
Asked whether she was setting a deadline of two months for the state government, Soni said, "There are no deadlines like that. But we have given them two months' time to adopt the recommendations of the Panchayati Raj Amendment Act."

Asked on whose behalf was the demand being placed before the state government, Soni said, "I am a representative of the (Congress) central leadership and I am saying this on behalf of the central and state leadership".
Soni said, "Our party, since Rajiv Gandhi's time has wanted the Panchayati Raj Act to be tailored as per (the needs) of each state and be implemented accordingly.
She said that Congress had set a target of fulfilling within the next five or six months, all electoral promises made by the party with a view to the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
"We have passed a resolution today with respect to the PR Act Amendments... I do not want it to become an issue in the forthcoming elections," she said.