NC threatens to boycott Lok Sabha, Assembly polls

Farooq Abdullah calls Modi "Hitler"

Days after the National Conference said that it will boycott the upcoming local body elections in Jammu & Kashmir if the Centre fails to clarify its stand on Article 35A, party chief and MP Farooq Abdullah on Saturday threatened to boycott even the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

"We will not only boycott panchayat elections but also the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls if the Centre doesn't clear its stand on Article 35A and Article 370," he said while talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function in Srinagar organised to commemorate the death anniversary of party founder Sheikh Abdullah.

Terming Prime Minister Narendra Modi "'Hitler", Abdullah said he announced the Panchayat and Municipal polls from the ramparts of the Red Fort without taking the political parties on board.

The announcement has come just days after he had announced that his party will not participate in the upcoming Panchayat and Municipal polls.

Last week the state government announced the schedule for holding elections to local bodies and Panchayats in the state. While the urban local body polls are slated for the first week of October, the Panchayat elections are scheduled to be held in November-December.

The announcement, citing Article 35A, followed on the heels of National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval making a strong statement about Jammu & Kashmir's sovereignty and opining that the separate Constitution for the state, which has existed since the 1950s, was an aberration.

Before the Supreme Court

Article 35A, a constitutional provision that bars non-state residents from buying land and applying in various government jobs in the state, has been challenged before the Supreme Court.

Last week, the Supreme Court deferred the hearing of Article 35A to January after the Centre and the state governments cited possible law and order problems in holding Municipal and Panchayat elections.

Article 370 is an extension of Article 35A that allows the state its own Constitution, flag and the right to handle its own laws, except on matters that impact national security.