On 20 July 2020, Omar Abdullah, Vice President of the National Conference, intimated legal action against Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel for linking Congress rebel Sachin Pilots move with his and his fathers release from around 9-month detention in Kashmir.
He took to social media and tweeted, I am fed up of the downright malicious and false allegation that what Sachin Pilot is doing is somehow linked to my or my fathers release from detention earlier this year. Enough is enough. Mr. Bhupesh Baghel will be hearing from my lawyers. In the tweet, he also tagged Randeep Singh Surjewala, the Indian National Congress, and ex-president of the Congress party Rahul Gandhi. The tweet was accompanied by a formal rebuttal from the J&K National Conference.
Retorting to the Abdullah, CM Baghel tweeted, Please do not try to turn this tragic demise of democracy into an opportunity moment Omar Abdullah ji. The allegation was only a question asked, and we will keep asking it, as will the country.
Continuing the embittered remarks, Abdullah wrote back angrily, You can send your answers to my lawyers. This is what is wrong with Congress today. You dont know your friends from your opponents. This is why you people are in the mess and you are in.Your question was malicious & will not go uncontested.
The skirmishes started, when Mr. Baghel, in an interview with The Hindu, said, 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 Mufti ji were booked under the same sections of the law, while she is still languishing, he is out. Is it because Mr. Abdullah is the brother-in-law of Sachin Pilot?
Sachin Pilot is married to Omar Abdullahs sister, Sara. Seven months ago, on 24 March 2020, Omar was freed from detention in Srinagar. Days before that, his father and former Union Minister Sheikh Farooq Abdullah was also released from house arrest. They were detained last August, after the Centre revoked Article 370 of the Constitution, citing security of nation and necessity for peace in the region.
An official statement issued by the National Conference read, The Party unequivocally rejects such malicious, false, and politically motivated statements that are used for convenient political posturing.
We have taken cognizance of the libelous statement of Mr. Baghel and we are presently in the process of consulting our lawyers and shall be initiating appropriate legal action against the aforesaid statement, it added.
Abdullah was taken into preventive detention, hours before the Centre announced bifurcation of the state of Jammu and Kashmir into the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh on 5 August 2020. Just before the term, i.e. 6 months, for his preventive detention was to end, he was booked under the stringent Public Safety Act in February 2020.
On 24 March 2020, the order for his detention under PSA was revoked after his sister, and wife of Sachin Pilot, Sara approached the apex court challenging the same.
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