The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister alleged that attempts were being made to engineer a split in the National Conference but claimed that none of the MLAs in his party would “sell out” themselves.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday demanded Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to either prove his allegations that the party was trying to buy off National Conference (NC) MLAs or apologise. The BJP said the allegations were “largely irresponsible and baseless”.
The BJP’s response came after Abdullah accused the party of trying to topple the NCP-led government in Jammu and Kashmir by offering money, ministerial posts and promising statehood to his party’s legislators.
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Omar Abdullah allegations
Addressing the Hazratbal Workers’ Conference in Srinagar on Saturday, Abdullah alleged that an NC MLA from Jammu district told him ₹20 Crores $30 Crore”>was offered to him between $20 Crores $Rs 30 crore, a ministerial post and restoration of the state in exchange for switching sides.
“Where your (BJP) greed for money and ministries has failed, you are telling me in a closed room: ‘Come with us. When you come, we will give you statehood.” “We will offer you Rs 20 to 30 crore for the ministry and state status,” a Supreme Court lawyer, a BJP official, tells a local administration body member in Jammu in a closed room. “Come with us.” “They think people’s faith is very cheap,” Abdullah said, without naming the BJP leader.
The Prime Minister claimed that attempts were being made to engineer a split in the National Conference but claimed that none of the MLAs in his party would “sell out” themselves.
“There is not a single legislator here that he would sell his integrity for $30 crores, or so $“100 crores because we know we are accountable to God,” he said. He added that the BJP will not be allowed to come to power in Jammu and Kashmir “through the back door”.
Later, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah also alleged that attempts had been made to divide the party, saying similar efforts had been made in the past as well.
The Bharatiya Janata Party responds to these accusations
Reacting to the allegations, BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said Omar Abdullah made an “irresponsible and highly condemnable” statement and challenged him to provide evidence.
“Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has made a highly irresponsible and condemnable statement, making baseless allegations that the BJP is trying to extract MLA from his party. The Jammu and Kashmir unit of the BJP has strongly condemned this statement and directly asked him to either provide evidence or apologise,” Trivedi told PTI.
He claimed that Abdullah was making these allegations to divert attention from his government’s performance.
“The truth is that Prime Minister Omar Abdullah made this baseless allegation to hide his government’s incompetence, inaction and mismanagement in Jammu and Kashmir and to divert attention from these issues. We strongly condemn this and urge him to either provide evidence or apologize for his statement,” Trivedi said.
He also asked the National Conference to focus on governance instead of making political allegations.
BJP seeks names and warns of legal action
J&K BJP spokesperson and MLA RS Pathania also rejected Abdullah’s claims and demanded that he reveal the identity of the MLA, the BJP leader allegedly involved, and details of when and where the alleged offer was made.
“If such a serious incident occurred, why was it not reported to the investigating agencies? An elected prime minister cannot make such allegations without submitting evidence before the authorities,” Patania said.
He warned that if Abdullah failed to apologise, the BJP would file a defamation case against him for making “misleading and baseless allegations”.
Pathania also accused the National Conference of using the demand for restoration of statehood to divert attention from governance, saying that the Center has already made clear its stand that the state will be restored in due course.
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Senior BJP leader Ravinder Raina also denied the allegations.
“The allegations made by Omar Abdullah are baseless, misleading and devoid of facts. These allegations relate $20 Crores or $“The Rs 30 crore each for MLAs to topple the state government is completely misleading,” he said.
Raina said Abdullah recently thanked the Narendra Modi government for its financial and security support to Jammu and Kashmir and questioned why he was making such allegations suddenly. He also claimed that there was discontent among NCP legislators and alleged that the Prime Minister was trying to divert attention from internal discontent within his party.
NC defends CM
In support of the Prime Minister, Deputy CM Surender Chaudhary accused the BJP of spreading lies and defended Abdullah’s credibility.
“Tell me when the BJP has told the truth. The BJP’s business is about lies. They came to power in 2014 based on lies, then they came back in 2019 and in 2024, and their basis is always lies. Omar Abdullah is not one of those leaders who lies,” Chaudhary said, according to ANI. “He first investigates the full facts, then makes a statement.”
He added that the NC government was elected by the people of Jammu and Kashmir and said Abdullah’s allegations will make people doubt the intentions of the BJP in the Union Territory.
Omar Abdullah said the National Conference decided to protest at Jantar Mantar after repeated efforts failed over the past 20 months to convince Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir. Activist Sonam Wangchuk has been on an indefinite hunger strike in Delhi since June 28.
“The central government should think about why we are protesting at Jantar Mantar less than two years after the government was formed. For the last 1.75 years, I have put my political reputation on the line and told the Center that we want to achieve our rights through dialogue, not through force. I wanted to give the Center a chance to fulfill the promise it made to us,” Abdullah said.
