Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday hit back at union Minister and senior BJP leader J P Nadda over his remarks on the Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board (JKSSB) paper leak, accusing him of misstating facts and reminding him that the recruitment scam took place in 2022 under the Lt Governor-led administration, not during an NC-Congress government.
Omar also questioned the fate of the High-Level Committee constituted to probe the leak, asking Nadda to disclose its findings in his next press conference.
Addressing a press conference on the ongoing students’ protest over alleged examination irregularities, Nadda on Wednesday evening claimed that the JKSSB paper leak had occurred when the Congress and National Conference were in power.
“You are absolutely correct about the SSB paper leak in J&K, @JPNadda ji, but you have got the date wrong. It was 2022. The government wasn’t of NC & Congress. It was a government headed by Lt. Governor but thank you for reminding everyone of this failure. It involved these observations & orders of the J&K High Court,” Omar said on X.
“We have no idea what happened to the High Level Committee or its report. Perhaps you can share that with us in your next press conference.”
NC chief spokesperson and MLA Tanvir Sadiq also accused Nadda of misrepresenting the facts.
“It is astonishing that the BJP’s Minister J.P. Nadda Sahib would make a claim so divorced from the facts,” Sadiq said in a post on X.
He asserted that the recruitment paper leak took place in 2022, when Jammu and Kashmir was under the administration of the Lieutenant Governor and there was no elected government in the union Territory.
“The J&K recruitment paper leak happened in 2022 under the Lieutenant Governor’s administration, which means directly under you, when there was no elected government. The present government assumed office only in October 2024,” Sadiq said.
He further said that if Nadda was unable to distinguish between the Lieutenant Governor’s administration and an elected government, “he has no business lecturing anyone.”
“If he does know the facts, then this is a deliberate attempt to deceive the people of the country,” Sadiq added.
