Ghulam Azad Claims Farooq Abdullah Sought ‘Night’ Meeting With PM Modi, NC Chief Asks 'Who Is Your Agent'

In response to Azad's claim that the Abdullahs met PM Modi and Amit Shah at night, Abdullah mentioned a time when Azad was left isolated by everyone, and NC offered him a Rajya Sabha seat.

National Conference Chief Farooq Abdullah rejected Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) President Ghulam Nabi Azad's claims about late-night meetings with Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday. Abdullah responded to Azad's statement, saying, "If I have to meet PM Modi or Union Home Minister Amit Shah, I will do so during the day; why should I do so at night?"

In a counterattack, Farooq Abdullah asserted that he had offered Ghulam Nabi Azad a Rajya Sabha seat at a time when it was seemingly unwanted by others.

Farooq Abdullah, speaking to ANI on Monday, challenged Azad to disclose the names of his alleged informants present at the residences of the PM and Union Home Minister.

"When no one wanted to give him a Rajya Sabha seat, I gave him one, but now he's saying this. He should provide the names of his agents who are present at the Prime Minister's and Union Home Minister's residences," Abdullah said. 

Echoing his father's sentiments, Omar Abdullah remarked, “Wah bhai wah Ghulam Nabi Azad, so much bile today. Where is the Ghulam that was begging us for Rajya Sabha seats in J&K as recently as 2015? 'Abdullahs knew about 370,' yet we were detained for more than 8 months, including under PSA, and you were free, the only ex-CM in J&K free after 5th Aug. 'Abdullahs meet secretly,' yet my father is the one thrown out of his Govt house when he wasn’t MP, and you are allowed to keep your ministerial bungalow?"

Earlier in the day, Ghulam Nabi Azad had claimed that Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah held clandestine meetings with PM Modi and Amit Shah, as reported by India Today. Azad accused the Abdullahs of having conflicting stances, stating that they express different views in Srinagar, Jammu, and Delhi.

However, in a subsequent interview, Azad clarified that he never asserted Farooq Abdullah's nighttime meetings with PM Modi or Home Minister Amit Shah, emphasizing that his statement was based on information from undisclosed sources. "I never claimed that he met him (PM Modi). I said that through sources in Delhi, it has come to be known that he tries to meet central leadership, that too only at night. I never said that he met or got an appointment," Azad told ANI.

BJP leader Devender Singh Rana also responded to the claims made by the DPAP chief, Rana said: "Dr Farooq Abdullah's statement did not surprise me because, since the 2014 assembly elections, the National Conference leadership has been eager to form an alliance with the BJP, but the BJP has repeatedly declined that offer".

"I can tell you with confidence that repeated attempts were made because I was a part of the National Conference system. Even after Article 370 was abolished, attempts were made to form a strategic alliance or understanding with the BJP," he was quoted as saying by ANI.