BJP remote controlled from Nagpur: Omar Abdullah

Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday hit out at BJP saying that the party does not have a problem with father-son combination as long as they are in BJP or an ally. The remark comes in the wake of BJP targetting UPA by calling it a "father-son" or "mother-son" party.

"And clearly you don't have a problem with Father-son combinations as long as they are in the BJP or allied to you," said Omar on microblogging site Twitter.

"Look who is getting all touchy. At least my party is controlled by people who fight elections not by remote control from Nagpur," said the Chief Minister.

Earlier in the day, BJP had hit out at J-K Chief Minister for his remarks on developments within the party saying that unlike others, theirs was not a "father-son" or "mother-son" party.

"Omar is unable to appreciate that... BJP is a party of healthy inner-party democracy because unlike some other parties, BJP is not a 'father-son' or 'mother-son' party," BJP national executive member and chief spokesperson in J-K, Dr Jitendra Singh, had said here in reaction to Abdullah's tweets.

The J-K CM had on Monday said that it should not matter to BJP that its patriarch LK Advani had quit since his opinion had been ignored by the party.

"If his opinion didn't matter to you yesterday, why is his resignation a crisis for you today?" Omar had said in a tweet on microblogging site Twitter.

The remarks followed Advani's announcement that he was stepping down from key party fora.

Meanwhile, Omar today expressed surprise over Advani's projection in certain sections as a symbol of secularism in the NDA coalition.

"LK Advani as the NDA's mascot of secularism. Who would have imagined!!!!!!" Omar, whose National Conference was a constituent of the alliance from 1999-2003, said in another tweet.

Reacting to the fresh comments, Singh said that although the J-K CM had received his training in politics under former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, he still needed to learn a lot from the legacy of Vajpayee and Advani enshrined in the BJP.

With PTI inputs