Denials and tweets over Mehbooba Mufti's support to Narendra Modi

NEW DELHI: BJP leader Sushma Swaraj's statement that PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti had praised Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has sparked off a war of words in Srinagar.

Mufti on Tuesday fiercely refuted Swaraj's claim, but J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah hit out at her saying he was surprised she had denied it considering that others too had heard her speech.

Swaraj, in her speech on the last day of Modi's fast on Monday, had said at the National Integration Council meeting in Delhi, Mufti had narrated an episode of a Muslim friend of hers wanting to invest in Gujarat being quickly granted an appointment with the CM. "You can accuse an Advani or a Sushma of bias when they praise Modi. But this was Mehbooba Mufti," Swaraj said.

This did not go down well with the PDP leader. "It is baseless and unfortunate that the Leader of the Opposition has chosen to misquote me unnecessarily for her own reason. I appeal to the Government of India that it should release the full text of my speech so that we can put the records straight," Mufti said.

Abdullah tweeted saying "I'm not surprised Mehbooba praised Modi, she can praise who ever she likes; I am surprised she'd deny it knowing others heard her speech."

Mufti retaliated by saying that it was the NC which had an alliance with the BJP-led NDA regime at the time of the Gujarat riots in 2002. "As far as Omar's tweet goes, he should recall that he was a minister at one point in time and he did not offer to resign in protest and his father was the only Muslim leader who stood by Narendra Modi at that time."

Omar, who was an MoS for External Affairs in the NDA government, said: "have never denied being a part of NDA Ms Mufti, but I've also said it was a mistake I regret & will never repeat nor let my party repeat."