Desperate attempt to defeat process of grassroots democracy: Jitendra Singh on JK sarpanch's killing

Union minister Jitendra Singh on Monday condoled the killing of a Kashmiri Pandit sarpanch in Jammu and Kashmir and said it is a "desperate attempt" by anti-national elements to defeat the process of grassroots democracy in the Union Territory

Ajay Pandit, sarpanch of the Larkipora area in Anantnag district and a member of the Congress, was shot dead by militants in his native village around 6 pm, a police official said

Singh, Minister of State for Personnel and the Lok Sabha member from Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur constituency, expressed anguish over the sarpanch's killing. "It is a desperate attempt by anti-national elements to defeat the process of grassroots democracy, which is sought to be established in Jammu and Kashmir for the first time at the instance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he said.