BJP slaps Rs 100 cr defamation notice on Omar Abdullah
The Jammu and Kashmir unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday served a legal notice to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah demanding that he either substantiate or withdraw his serious allegations that the national party had attempted to bribe National Conference legislators with cash and ministerial berths in a bid to topple his Government.
The notice, which includes a demand for a written retraction and an unconditional public apology within seven days, threatens civil and criminal defamation proceedings, including a Rs 100 crore damages suit, if the Chief Minister fails to comply.
In response to the legal notice, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah took a light-hearted yet defiant tone, calling the communication a “love letter” from the BJP.
Interacting with the media persons at the party headquarters in Srinagar, on the sidelines of a homage ceremony, Omar said that he felt “honoured” to be the only politician in Jammu and Kashmir to receive such attention, signalling that the notice only underscored his growing relevance as a political force the saffron party could not ignore.
The chief minister, while addressing National Conference (NC) workers at Hazratbal last week, alleged that the BJP is trying to bring down his Government by engineering a split in his party. He also claimed that an NC MLA from Jammu told him that he was offered Rs 20-30 crore and a ministerial berth to switch sides to the saffron camp.
The notice has been issued through advocate Parimoksh Seth on the instructions of BJP J&K Unit president and Rajya Sabha MP Sat Paul Sharma. It contends that the chief minister’s statements have caused serious damage to the reputation and public standing of the BJP and its office-bearers.
According to the three-page notice, Abdullah alleged that BJP functionaries had approached certain National Conference MLAs from the Jammu region with offers of Rs 20–30 crore, ministerial berths and restoration of Statehood in an attempt to persuade them to switch allegiance to the BJP. It refers to the chief minister’s allegation that a senior BJP office-bearer, who is also a lawyer practising in the Supreme Court, allegedly played a role in offering the inducements. Rejecting the allegations, the BJP has described them as “entirely untrue, malicious and without any factual basis.”
The notice states that the allegations were deliberately made to tarnish the party’s image and have been widely circulated, thereby causing substantial reputational harm.
The legal notice asserts that the allegations amount to defamation under both civil and criminal law and calls upon the chief minister to withdraw his charges in writing.
“Issue an unconditional public apology within seven days of receiving the notice. Refrain from publishing or circulating any further defamatory material concerning the BJP. Immediately cease and desist from making or repeating any such statements,” it said.
The BJP has warned that if the demands are not complied with within the stipulated period, it will initiate appropriate civil and criminal proceedings before a competent court. These would include a defamation suit seeking damages of Rs 100 crore, apart from other legal remedies available under the law.
Interacting with the media persons, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said he was expecting a political response from the BJP since he had made a political statement; however, they chose the legal route.
“It is symbolic of the way the BJP fights. They take political fights and hide behind the courts. I could have made the same statement and hid behind the assembly. I could have taken advantage of the privileges afforded to me by making the statements in the Assembly which cannot be challenged outside the assembly, but I did not,” he said. Abdullah noted that several BJP leaders from Jammu and Kashmir have made slanderous accusations against the NC and its leadership over the past few months.
“Particularly, one leader has time and again levelled unfounded and slanderous allegations against us, but we have been fighting him politically. Going on now, we will begin the process of sending legal notices to that particular BJP leader and a few others and let’s see where this process ends,” he said.
