Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday dismissed rumours of some of his MLAs deserting the party, amid speculation that the BJP might attempt to engineer a split in the National Conference to form a government on the back of its Bengal victory.

Asked about the rumours, Omar accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of spreading misinformation and claimed that Mehbooba Mufti’s party had voted for its one-time ally BJP to help it win a Rajya Sabha seat last year.

“If some MLAs are making efforts to leave the National Conference, do you think I would be sitting in such functions? These are baseless things,” Omar said while presiding over an event in Kashmir’s Tangmarg.

“These are the same people who, on the directions of the BJP, supported it in elections. This is not something that we are saying. It is what the recent RTI reply has proved. There is no MLA in the National Conference who will leave the party to help the BJP,” he said.

An RTI disclosure has fuelled claims that the PDP might have helped the BJP win a Rajya Sabha seat last year.

The RTI reply claims that the PDP was the only party that did not appoint authorised agents to verify the votes of its MLAs in the Rajya Sabha elections.

Omar’s remarks came a day after Opposition leader Sunil Sharma said Jammu and Kashmir was the BJP’s next target and the party had been making plans for over a year.

Sharma on Wednesday said the NC was on a ventilator because of internal issues, but denied that his party was working to destabilise it.

The BJP made a concerted attempt to win power in the 2024 Assembly elections after a Centre-appointed commission introduced a controversial delimitation exercise that created six more seats in Hindu-majority areas of Jammu.