It is falsehood: Saraf Sanjay Saraf said he was exploring legal options against a daily that carried the report for “spreading falsehood and dragging my name into something that I was never part of”.

Srinagar/Lucknow, April 20
Mystery surrounded the claim by Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani that Narendra Modi had sent two emissaries to him carrying a message with an LJP leader whose named surfaced maintaining today he met him but not as an emissary.

Sanjay Saraf, who belongs to Ram Vilas Paswan’s LJP that is part of the NDA, confirmed that he had met Geelani but dismissed reports that he had carried any message from the BJP prime ministerial candidate to the hardline Hurriyat leader.

Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) national youth president Saraf said his relations with the separatist leader were “personal”. “I have been meeting Geelani for so many years. I have not met him in the context that has been reported,” Saraf told PTI in Srinagar.

Asked about media reports identifying him as one of the two emissaries, Saraf said he was exploring legal options against a daily which carried the report for “spreading falsehood and dragging my name into something that I was never part of”.

Geelani on Friday claimed that Modi had sent two emissaries to him and the separatist leadership in Jammu and Kashmir to create a “soft corner” for the BJP by making a “commitment” to seek a solution to the Kashmir issue.

Geelani has not named the emissaries so far. The meeting allegedly took place in Delhi on March 22. The separatist leader also claimed the emissaries had called on other separatist leaders who were now pinning hopes on the NDA coming to power for resolution of the Kashmir issue.

Dismissing Geelani’s claims, senior BJP leader Lalji Tandon said that Modi did not send any emissary to anyone, calling his remark as unfortunate. “Geelani comes across as if he is wearing the Congress mask,” he said, adding, “whenever the time comes, Modi and the BJP will talk about the Kashmir issue.”