"The defeat of coalition candidates in the Legislative Council elections was must to ensure setting up of a vibrant Panchayat Raj Institution in Jammu and Kashmir," former Finance minister and senior PDP leader Tariq Hamid Qarra told reporters here.
Qarra alleged that National Conference-Congress coalition was responsible for depriving Panchayat members of their constitutional powers.
Addressing series of meetings of Panches and Sarpanches in different areas of the district, the PDP leader said that the party was committed to set up three-tier Panchayati Raj Institutions in the state with all powers to the Panchayat members.
Qarra, who is coordinator of the campaign committee of PDP, said that elected Panchayat members were feeling betrayed by the ruling coalition and they were anxiously looking for the opportunity to the give a befitting reply to the state government for dishonouring mandate of the people.
Qarra reminded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during this year's Independence Day address had also termed Panchayat elections in Jammu and Kashmir as one of the biggest achievements to strengthen democracy in the state.
He, however, regretted that the present government has failed to take any step to make Panchayats properly functional at grass root level.