Srinagar: Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary on Wednesday came to the defence of chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and took on the opposition for criticising her explanation of a fiasco that occurred during a programme at Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) on Tuesday.

He was referring to National Conference leader and former CM Omar Abdullah’s tweets after Tuesday’s incident, a media report said.

“When I saw his statement, he was (sounding) so happy. He was saying this lady (Mehbooba) is lying…actually there were anti-India protests (raised)… I don’t know what happened but if this kind of politics is practised it is tantamount to weakening the national foundation…. This is not acceptable,” Madhav said at an event to release a book, State Politics in India, the report said.

In his tweets, Omar had criticised Mehbooba for “living in denial” and not admitting that azadi slogans were raised at the event. Among several tweets, he posted, “I dread to imagine what lies @MehboobaMufti tells PM Modi in private when she can’t even be honest about things everyone can see videos of.”

The state officially maintained that Mehbooba left the venue as the participants panicked after a woman fainted.

However, reports said that many women, participating in the event, were not told that Mehbooba Mufti will be present at the venue.

“We wouldn’t have participated in the event had we been told that she will be present here,” a report quoted a woman as saying.