The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday demanded that Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah either substantiate his allegations that the party was trying to buy National Conference (NC) MLAs or apologise. The claims were "highly irresponsible and baseless," the BJP said.
The BJP's response came after Abdullah accused the party of trying to bring down the NC-led government in Jammu and Kashmir by offering cash, ministerial posts and a promise of statehood to his party's legislators.
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Omar Abdullah's allegations
Addressing a workers' convention at Hazratbal in Srinagar on Saturday, Abdullah alleged that an NC MLA from the Jammu region told him ₹20 crore and ₹30 crore">he had been offered between ₹20 crore and ₹30 crore, a ministerial berth and restoration of statehood in exchange for switching sides.
"Where your (BJP) greed for money and ministries failed, you're telling my MLA in a closed room, 'Come with us. When you come, we'll give you a statehood.' A Supreme Court lawyer, a BJP official, tells one of my Jammu MLAs in a closed room: 'We'll offer you 20 to 30 crore rupees for a ministry, and the status of a state. Come with us.' They think people's faith is so cheap," Abdullah said, without naming either the MLA or the BJP leader.
{{/usCountry}}"Where your (BJP) greed for money and ministries failed, you're telling my MLA in a closed room, 'Come with us. When you come, we'll give you a statehood.' A Supreme Court lawyer, a BJP official, tells one of my Jammu MLAs in a closed room: 'We'll offer you 20 to 30 crore rupees for a ministry, and the status of a state. Come with us.' They think people's faith is so cheap," Abdullah said, without naming either the MLA or the BJP leader.
{{/usCountry}}The chief minister alleged that attempts were being made to engineer a split in the National Conference but claimed that none of his party's MLAs would "sell" themselves.
"There is not a single legislator here who will sell his integrity for ₹30 crore, or even ₹100 crore, because we know that we are answerable to God," he said. He added that the BJP would not be allowed to come to power in Jammu and Kashmir "through the back door."
Later, NC president Farooq Abdullah also alleged that attempts were being made to split the party, saying similar efforts had been made in the past as well.
BJP counters allegations
Reacting to the allegations, BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said Omar Abdullah made an "extremely irresponsible and condemnable" statement and challenged him to provide evidence.
"Jammu and Kashmir CM Omar Abdullah has made a highly irresponsible and condemnable statement, making the baseless allegation that the BJP is attempting to poach MLAs from his party. The BJP's J&K unit has strongly condemned this statement and directly asked him to either provide evidence or apologise," Trivedi told PTI.
He alleged that Abdullah was making the claims to divert attention from his government's performance.
"The reality is that CM Omar Abdullah has made this baseless allegation to conceal his government's incompetence, inaction and misgovernance in Jammu and Kashmir and to divert attention from these issues. We strongly condemn this and urge him to either provide evidence or apologise for his statement," Trivedi said.
He also asked the NC to focus on governance instead of making political allegations.
BJP seeks names, 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 chief minister cannot make such allegations without placing evidence before the authorities," Pathania said, as per PTI.
He warned that if Abdullah failed to apologise, the BJP would file a defamation case against him for making "misleading and unsubstantiated allegations."
Pathania also accused the National Conference of using the demand for restoration of statehood to divert attention from governance, saying the Centre had already made its position clear that statehood would be restored at an appropriate time.
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Senior BJP leader Ravinder Raina also dismissed the allegations.
"The allegations levelled by Omar Abdullah are baseless, misleading and devoid of facts. The allegations regarding ₹20 crore or ₹30 crore for each MLA to topple the state government are totally misleading," he said.
Raina said Abdullah had recently thanked the Narendra Modi government for its financial and security support to Jammu and Kashmir and questioned why he had suddenly made such allegations. He also claimed there was resentment among National Conference legislators and alleged that the chief minister was trying to divert attention from internal dissatisfaction within his party.
NC defends CM
Backing the chief minister, Deputy CM Surinder Choudhary accused the BJP of spreading falsehoods and defended Abdullah's credibility.
"Tell me when the BJP has ever said the truth. BJP's work is all about lies. They came to power in 2014 based on lies, then came back in 2019 and in 2024, and their foundation is always lies. Omar Abdullah is not one of those leaders who lie. He first investigates the full facts, and then gives a statement," Choudhary said, as per ANI.
He added that the NC government had been elected by the people of Jammu and Kashmir and said Abdullah's allegations would make people question the BJP's intentions in the Union Territory.
Omar Abdullah said the NC decided to protest at Jantar Mantar after repeated efforts over the past 20 months to persuade Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah to restore Jammu and Kashmir's statehood failed. Activist Sonam Wangchuk is on an indefinite hunger strike at the Delhi location since June 28.
"The central government should introspect as to why we are going to protest at Jantar Mantar less than two years after the government was formed. For the past 1.75 years, I put my political reputation at stake and told the Centre that we wanted to achieve our rights through dialogue, not through force. I wanted to give the Centre a chance to fulfil the promise it made to us," Abdullah said.