22 Nov 2018, 08:53 PM IST
Video Producer: Anubhav Mishra
Video Editor: Abhishek Sharma
The war of words between Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) leader Ram Madhav and National Conference’s Omar Abdullah continued on Thursday, 22 November, after the former challenged Abdullah to prove “genuine love” between NC and Mehbooba Mufti-led People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and fight the next elections together.
Both political leaders sparred on Twitter after Madhav questioned Abdullah and Mehbooba’s wish to form a government in Jammu and Kashmir.
Just landed@Aizawl n saw this. Now tht u deny any external pressure I take back my comment, bt, now tht u proved it ws genuine love btw NC n PDP tht prompted a failed govt formation attempt,u shud fight nxt elections 2gether. ðMind u itâs pol comnt,not personal https://t.co/DsOYiwwXmo
— Ram Madhav (@rammadhavbjp) November 22, 2018
Mehbooba Mufti too joined in later in the fracas, as she lashed out against Madhav over his "Pakistan" remark, saying that she was "shocked to see baseless allegations against mainstream parties" in Jammu and Kashmir.
Shocked to see baseless allegations against mainstream parties in JK following dictates from Pakistan levelled by @rammadhavbjp ji. 1/8
— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) November 22, 2018
Madhav on Thursday stirred a fresh controversy by accusing National Conference’s (NC’s) Omar Abdullah and PDP President Mehbooba Mufti of coming together to form an alliance at the “behest of instructions from across the border.”
Moments after Madhav’s accusation, Abdullah asked him to prove his accusation or apologise.
“I dare you Ram Madhav ji to prove your allegation. You have RAW, NIA & IB at your command (CBI too is your parrot) so have the guts to place evidence in the public domain. Either prove this or be man enough to apologise. Don’t practice shoot & scoot politics,” Abdullah tweeted.
After Abdullah’s demand, Madhav asked the former to take it in his stride, saying he didn’t mean to offend him. However, Abdullah wasn’t satisfied with the response.
No, misplaced attempts at humour wonât work. You HAVE claimed my party has been acting at the behest of Pakistan. I dare you to prove it! Place the evidence of your allegation of NC boycott of ULB polls at Pak behest in public domain. Itâs an open challenge to you & your Govt. https://t.co/7cumKwKxuM
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) November 22, 2018
While slamming Madhav for his "Pakistan" remark, Mufti questioned if supporting the Centre was the sole criterion to become "nationalistic and patriotic", indicating that MLAs of PDP and NC were labelled "anti-nationalistic" just because they had "enough integrity to stand up to your (BJP's) failed attempts of defection".
Sad to see what the political discourse of our country has been reduced to. How does one define a partyâs nationalistic credentials? Nationalistic and patriotic only if you are with the Centre and Pakistan sponsored and anti nationalistic otherwise? 2/8
— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) November 22, 2018
All mainstream parties in JK have taken grave risks to bridge the trust deficit that exists between people of the state vis a vis the country. 3/8
— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) November 22, 2018
Both PDP and NC have been allies of BJP at some point. Strange that our credentials werent questioned then. 4/8
— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) November 22, 2018
But just because our MLAs had enough integrity to stand up to your failed attempts of defection, they are now anti nationalistic? 5/8
— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) November 22, 2018
Madhav had accused the PDP and NC of coming together after “fresh instructions from across the border.”
“PDP and NC boycotted local body polls last month because they had instructions from across the border. Probably they had fresh instructions from across the border to come together and form government. What they did prompted Governor to look into the whole issue,” Madhav said, charging at political rivals Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti.
Political tempers have shot up with Madhav’s accusation on Thursday morning. He said Mufti never claimed that she will form the government in her letter to the governor.
“Only Governor can answer why his home's fax machine is not working. Only he should answer. But this is lame excuse on the part of Madam Mehbooba. In letter, she never claimed that she will form the government. She said I'll come see you and stake the claim. It was all a drama,” Madhav said.
Jammu and Kashmir plunged into a political crisis on Wednesday when Governor Satya Pal Malik dissolved the Assembly after Mehbooba Mufti and People's Conference leader Sajjad Lone staked their respective claims to form the government in the state.