National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on Thursday criticised Bharatiya Janata Party National General Secretary Ram Madhav’s comments suggesting that Pakistan played a role in the alliance between his party and the Peoples Democratic Party.
“I dare Ram Madhav to bring evidence about Pakistan’s role in the formation of this alliance,” Abdullah said at a press conference. “Please stop this politics of shoot and scoot,” he said.
Abdullah said Madhav is accusing his party of “taking diktats from the across the border” when the National Conference had lost 3,000 party workers “who refused to dance to the tunes of Pakistan”. “Ram Madhav should come out with evidence about his allegation in the court of people,” he said. “Otherwise, he should apologise.”
In an unprecedented move, rival regional parties Peoples Democratic Party and the National Conference on Wednesday formed an alliance along with the Congress. Both Peoples Democratic Party President Mehbooba Mufti and People’s Conference leader Sajad Lone, with the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party, have staked claim to form government.
Governor Satya Pal Malik dissolved the Assembly following this, which leaders have claimed he did in support of the BJP. However, Abdullah said that the decision to challenge Malik’s decision to dissolve the Assembly lies with the PDP, which has the most seats in the state.
The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said his party was not looking for power and only wanted to bring the state out of the morass. “I wish what we did yesterday was done in 2015, I promise to you that the situation would have been totally different.”
He then said that the only way to move forward was to conduct elections in the state. He said elections should take place before the parliamentary election or simultaneously.
He said his party would not enter into a long-term arrangement with the Peoples Democratic Party. “Nobody ever suggested that we would be fighting polls together. This arrangement was to protect Jammu and Kashmir from the current mess,” he said. “I don’t believe that the National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party and the Congress fighting elections together will in any way benefit the state because legitimate opposition voices are essential.”
Abdullah and Madhav had engaged in a long-drawn argument on Twitter too after Madhav, while speaking to ANI, said that the Peoples Democratic Party and the National Conference had boycotted the urban local body elections held last month on instructions from “across the border” in an apparent reference to Pakistan.
Responding to Madhav’s allegation, Abdullah dared him to prove his claims. “You have RAW [Research and Analysis Wing], NIA [National Investigation Agency] [and] IB [Intelligence Bureau] at your command (CBI too is your parrot) so have the guts to place evidence in the public domain,” Abdullah tweeted.
Madhav responded by saying that he was not questioning Abdullah’s patriotism. “Just take it in your stride Omar Abdullah,” Madhav replied to Abdullah’s tweet. He said the “sudden love” between the National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party and the hurry to form a government had raised suspicions.
Replying to Madhav’s tweet, Abdullah again dared the BJP leader to prove his claim that the National Conference was acting at Pakistan’s behest. “No, misplaced attempts at humour won’t work,” he said. “Place the evidence of your allegation of NC [National Conference] boycott of ULB [urban local body] polls at Pak [Pakistan] behest in public domain. It’s an open challenge to you [and] your Govt [government].”
The BJP leader in response said he took back his comment, and suggested that the National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party fight the next elections together.
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