Omar: What if J&K did a TN on Afzal Guru?

A tweet from Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday stirred a controversy, with the BJP accusing him of playing vote-bank politics.

A day after the Tamil Nadu assembly adopted a resolution urging President Pratibha Patil to reconsider clemency for the three killers of former PM Rajiv Gandhi, Abdullah wondered what reactions a similar act by the J&K House would evoke. "If the J&K assembly passed a resolution similar to the Tamil Nadu one for Afzal Guru, would the reaction have been as muted? I think not," he tweeted.

Guru, who hails from Kashmir, was sentenced to death for plotting the attack on Parliament on December 13, 2001.

Five terrorists had stormed the Parliament complex and killed sevensecuritymen before being shot dead.

The union home ministry has recommended to the President that the mercy petition filed on Guru’s behalf be rejected.

The death sentence for Guru is a sensitive issue in the Kashmir Valley and Abdullah had tweeted on the subject earlier. His tweet on Wednesday drew sharp reactions from the BJP, which called the remarks "unfortunate" and chided him for playing vote-bank politics.

"Had the Hurriyat leaders made such a comment, it would have been understandable," BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said in Delhi.

"Omar wants to address his constituency. They should not indulge in vote-bank politics on every matter," he added.

The Congress chose to distance itself from the issue. "What the CM comments on Twitter is his business," said party spokesperson Renuka Chowdhary. "In a democracy, it's perfectly okay for people to voice their opinions collectively or individually."

First Published: Sep 01, 2011 00:53 IST