National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on Monday threatened legal action against Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel for implying that Congress rebel Sachin Pilot’s moves were linked to he and his father being released from detention in Kashmir earlier this year.
“I am fed up of the downright malicious and false allegation that what Sachin Pilot is doing is somehow linked to my or my father’s release from detention earlier this year. Enough is enough. Mr Bhupesh Baghel will be hearing from my lawyers,” Omar Abdullah tweeted on Monday evening, along with a formal rebuttal from the National Conference.
Omar Abdullah was released after seven months of detention in Srinagar on March 24, days after his father, former Union Minister Farooq Abdullah was released from house arrest. They were among scores of political leaders detained last August as part of massive security curbs after special status to Jammu and Kashmir was scrapped.
Baghel sought to link Sachin Pilot’s revolt with the release of the Abdullahs in an interview to The Hindu newspaper published on Monday. “As far as Sachin Pilot is concerned, not that I have been tracking the Rajasthan events so closely, but it does make one curious why Omar Abdullah was released. He and Mehbooba Muftiji were booked under the same Sections of the law, while she is still languishing, he is out. Is it because Mr. Abdullah is brother-in-law of Sachin Pilot,” Baghel had said, hinting at a quid pro quo based on Congress allegations that Pilot is conspiring with the BJP to bring down its government in Rajasthan.
Sachin Pilot’s wife Sara Pilot is Omar Abdullah’s sister.
In a statement, the National Conference said it “unequivocally rejects such malicious, false and politically motivated statements that are used for convenient political posturing” and that it is considering legal action.
Mr Baghel’s comment, apart from being “false and scurrilous”, was defamatory to the reputation of Omar Abdullah, said the National Conference, adding that it was public knowledge that the release of its leaders followed a legal challenge. “Given the indefensible nature of the illegal detention order the same was revoked by the government during the course of the proceedings before the Supreme Court,” said the statement.
