Jammu: Former Union Minister Chaman Lal Gupta on Monday alleged that the Centre has made "mockery" of the Panchayats and local bodies in Jammu and Kashmir.

"Never the elections of these basic democracies were held in time and judiciously to make empowered bodies directly linked with the people at the ground level," Gupta, also the Jammu West MLA, said here. He asked for removal of all the barriers between the state and the rest of the country to have democracy in the real sense.
PTI