A political slugfest between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the ruling National Conference (NC) has escalated into a legal battle after the BJP served a defamation notice on Chief Minister Omar Abdullah over his allegations that the party attempted to bribe NC legislators to topple his government.
Calling the allegations “false, baseless and defamatory”, the BJP has sought a written retraction and an unconditional public apology from the Chief Minister within seven days, warning that failure to comply would invite civil and criminal proceedings, including a defamation suit seeking damages of ₹100 crore.
The controversy stems from Omar Abdullah’s address to National Conference workers at Hazratbal last week, where he alleged that the BJP was trying to destabilise his government by engineering a split in the NC. He claimed that one of the party’s MLAs from Jammu had informed him that he was offered ₹20-30 crore, a ministerial berth and an assurance of restoration of statehood in exchange for switching allegiance to the BJP.
Rejecting the allegations, the BJP termed them “entirely untrue, malicious and without any factual basis” and accused Omar of deliberately tarnishing the party’s image. It said the allegations had been widely circulated, causing substantial reputational harm.
The notice demands that the Chief Minister withdraw his allegations in writing, issue an unconditional public apology, refrain from making or circulating any further defamatory statements against the BJP and immediately cease repeating such allegations.
Responding to the notice on Sunday, Omar Abdullah dismissed it sarcastically, describing it as a “love letter” from the BJP.
“I consider this a great honour because I am perhaps the only politician in Jammu and Kashmir to receive such a love letter from the BJP. I take it as a mark of respect because it shows they regard me as a political force they cannot ignore,” he said.
Omar maintained that he had made the allegations from a political platform expecting a political response rather than legal action.
Accusing the BJP of repeatedly making what he described as false and defamatory allegations against the National Conference and its leadership over the past several months, Omar announced that his party would now initiate legal proceedings against senior BJP leaders.
