The ruling National Conference (NC) and Opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have locked horns over a video clip that exhibited Social Welfare Minister Sakina Itto coaxing an elderly person of her constituency to return to the ruling party. The video went viral on the social networking sites and created a flutter on Itto’s alleged invocations of verses of holy Quran. The PDP complained to the Election Commission of India but the NC rubbished the controversy saying that the video was old and had nothing to do with the ongoing parliamentary elections.
The elderly person in the video, Gul Muhammad, has been an aide of Itto’s father Wali Muhammad Itto, who was killed by militants in Jammu in mid-1990s. However, Muhammad, an influential worker in his area left NC in late 90s.
“I know the PDP is in complete panic mode but using old videos & trying to mislead the EC about code violations is desperate beyond words”, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah wrote on Twitter after the controversy erupted. He said that he spoke to Itto to confirm that the event depicted in the video has taken place before the model code of conduct came into force.
“let Election Commission or any other independent agency conduct an inquiry into the matter so that truth could come to fore- as far as the statement of Omar Abdullah is concerned- we demand a thorough probe into the video that shows NC’s lady minister compelling an old man to support her,” chief spokesman of PDP Naeem Akhtar said.