Jammu, Aug. 23 -- Reiterating the stand of his party-National Conference (NC) on full statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, the deputy chief minister Surinder Choudhary, on Saturday, said panchayat elections without statehood would serve no real purpose.

Responding to media queries on a visit to Gandhinagar Government Hospital, Choudhary said, "We demanded statehood, but they (the BJP government) tell us that it would be given at an appropriate time because when you have state status, panchayats are empowered in reality. If panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) are elected, we want them to be respected in a real sense. Ask the BJP what they did during their rule of 10 to 12 years. We had DDC chairmen, municipal mayors and deputy mayors, and munic...