Addressing the media ahead of day 3 of the Winter Session of Parliament on Tuesday, 19 December, vocal National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah rubbished conspiracy theories that the Congress had colluded with Pakistan in order to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Gujarat Assembly elections.
When asked about the matter, Abdullah said Narendra Modi himself went to Pakistan “for food,” referring to the Prime Minister’s surprise visit to the neighbouring country for Nawaz Sharif’s granddaughter’s wedding.
The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister came to Congress’ defence after Modi’s allegations that former prime minister Manmohan Singh and Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar had met Pakistani officials over dinner to come to a deal to influence the Assembly elections in Gujarat.
“He himself went to Pakistan for a meal, did he map out a controversy over his meal there?” Abdullah told reporters outside the Parliament building in New Delhi.
He even went on to say that Pakistan does not conspire with anyone.
Speaking on the Congress’ defeat in Gujarat, Abdullah said that if some Congress leaders wouldn’t have said what they said, Congress would have been victorious in Modi’s home state.
Not taking any names, but if some people wouldn’t have said certain wrong things, Congress would have won in Gujarat. But they managed to put up a good show there.Farooq Abdullah, former J&K chief minister
Commenting about the results in Himachal Pradesh, the former Jammu and Kashmir CM said that this is a regular pattern in the state. “One party ‘outseats’ the other every five years, its nothing new in the state.”
Abdullah is not new to controversies. In November this year, he lashed out at the Centre by daring them to hoist the national flag at Lal Chowk in the heart of Srinagar, before talking about unfurling it in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).
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