New Delhi: The BJP on Saturday termed as “extremely irresponsible and baseless” Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s allegation that it was trying to buy his party MLAs to bring down his government.
Lashing out at Abdullah over his charge, BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi also demanded that the J&K chief minister either provide “evidence” to substantiate his allegation or apologise.
J&K BJP spokesperson and MLA R S Pathania said if Abdullah does not apologise, the BJP will “file a defamation case against him for making misleading and unsubstantiated allegations intended to create confusion among the people”.
The BJP’s response came after Abdullah accused the BJP of trying to bring down his government by engineering a split in the National Conference, claiming that his party MLAs were offered Rs 20-30 crore to switch sides.
Addressing a packed workers’ convention at the mausoleum of his grandparents at Hazratbal on the 26th death anniversary of his grandmother, Akbar Jehan, in Srinagar, Abdullah claimed the BJP was using money power to poach his MLAs.
Reacting sharply, Trivedi said in a video message, “Omar Abdullah has given an extremely irresponsible and condemnable statement today. He has made baseless allegations that the BJP is trying to break away from his party MLAs. We strongly condemn it.”
Trivedi said that the BJP’s Jammu and Kashmir unit has also denounced Abdullah’s statement, “We ask him that either he produce evidence, or apologise for his statement,” the BJP Rajya Sabha MP added.
The BJP leader alleged that Abdullah has made such a “baseless” allegation just to deflect public attention from his government’s “incompetence, inaction and misgovernance” in J&K.
“While sitting on a constitutional post, you should fulfil your responsibility and serve the people of Jammu and Kashmir, instead of making such allegations to cover up your incompetence,” the BJP leader said.
“I will ask the National Conference and Omar Abdullah that they should not try to take revenge for their own failures by levelling such baseless allegations. They should pay attention to their work,” Trivedi added.
Speaking in the same vein, Pathania said, “Chief Minister Omar Abdullah should disclose the names of the MLAs who were allegedly offered money, identify the BJP leaders involved, and reveal when and where the alleged offers were made.
“If such a serious incident occurred, why was it not reported to the investigating agencies? An elected chief minister cannot make such allegations without placing evidence before the authorities.”
He said the National Conference received a five-year mandate but has been “exposed” within the first year itself as it “failed” to honour its promises.
On the proposed protest by the NC in Delhi for the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood, the BJP leader said there was no ambiguity about the Centre’s commitment.
“The Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister have made the government’s position clear in Parliament. The Government of India has also placed its stand before the Supreme Court. Statehood will be restored at the appropriate time, and there is no need to create unnecessary political drama over the issue,” he said.
He accused the National Conference of repeatedly attempting to politicise the statehood issue to divert attention from governance and asserted that “false narratives” would not succeed in Jammu and Kashmir.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: deccanchronicle.com
