Srinagar: The day after senior politician and religious leader Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi resigned from his post as Srinagar MP and left the ruling Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (NC), the party on Wednesday (November 4) called his resignation a success for the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) “Operation Lotus” in the Union territory. Ruhullah’s resignation came at a time when as many as 25 NC legislators had voiced grievances with the party.“Unfortunately I feel the BJP has succeeded in its ‘Operation Lotus’ in Jammu and Kashmir by taking out Aga Ruhullah Sahib from the National Conference,” NC MLA Salman Ali Sagar said in a press conference at the party headquarters in Srinagar today. He was addressing the media alongside his party colleague Sajad Shaheen.Sagar accused the BJP of orchestrating splits in the NC. Rejecting claims that Ruhullah’s resignation reflects a crisis within the NC, the MLA from Hazratbal said the party’s strength came from its collective leadership and public mandate rather than any single individual. Ruhullah had handed over his resignation to Mohammad Ashraf Mattoo, father of Wamiq Farooq, a 17-year-old student who was killed in 2010 unrest when chief minister Omar Abdullah was in power the first time, and Ruhullah was in the cabinet. Also read: Ruhullah Hints at Forming a New Political Outfit in J&K After Quitting NC and Resigning from Lok SabhaSagar criticised his ex-party colleague for what he called “disrespect for martyrs”. “We respect all the martyrs, whether 1931 or 2010, and no politics should be done on their blood,” he said.“Ruhullah should not have used martyrs like Tufail Mattoo for his politics. We will never abandon the cause of the people. The National Conference has been espousing this since 1931,” he added.Sagar said Ruhullah was free to question the leadership and express dissent, but argued that his grievances should have been addressed through the party’s internal mechanisms, not through resignation.‘Is it an ego clash?’Sagar also blamed Ruhullah for not speaking against the BJP and PDP. “Aga Sb never speaks against PDP and BJP. Kuch to hai jiski parda daari hai (there is something that is being covered). He just targets Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. Is it an ego clash or something else? Only time will tell this. But we are also not weak not to respond. Senior party leaders will keep responding to this,” he alleged.On Ruhullah’s allegation that “the party used him to win elections”, he further claimed that he had been given a “safe constituency” to contest from, and questioned his subsequent political distance from the party. In a veiled statement, he further said, “People keep talking about the huge mandate the National Conference has got. That mandate should have been used to fight these battles. We should have fought together. Is one MP or former MP a stronger force, or is the strength of 50 MLAs greater? Is an elected government not a stronger force? Whatever difficulties there were, they should have been confronted from within.”He also mentioned the names of two more former NC leaders, late Devender Singh Rana and Surjit Singh Slathia, who he claimed had similarly become the “targets of Operation Lotus”. He alleged that the BJP had succeeded in drawing prominent leaders away from the National Conference.‘Aga betrayed his voters’Sitting alongside Sagar, Banihal MLA Sajad Shaheen accused Aga of “betraying” NC and his voters, questioning his political record and performance in Parliament. Referring to the BJP’s national vice president Ram Madhav’s statement in which he claimed Ruhullah was holding his rally with the blessings of “our people”, Shaheen sought clarification from his ex-colleague. “Ram Madhav was holding a press conference in Jammu while the rally was taking place in Budgam. The question is whether Aga Sahib will clarify this,” he said.Both the legislators maintained that the National Conference’s political strength was rooted in its public support rather than any individual leader.“Individuals come, and individuals go. The foundation of the National Conference is its people,” Shaheen said.‘Political narcissism’, says NCOn Tuesday evening, following Ruhullah’s public criticism of the party, the National Conference released a strong-worded statement, accusing the former MP of remaining a willing participant in the party and government for decades and choosing to resign only after being directed to do so by party president Farooq Abdullah. The party called his criticism of the NC and of chief minister Omar Abdullah a reflection of his “mental and moral bankruptcy” and an expression of “political narcissism”.“He only remembered to resign when he was told to by the party president. The same way he only remembered 2010 today when it suited him. He is a man who happily remained in office as a minister in 2010 until he was removed in a general reshuffle. He was happy to fight elections in 2014 on a JKNC ticket and didn’t remember 2010 then. In fact, he conveniently forgot all about it until 2026, 16 years later,” the NC statement said.Meanwhile, speaking to The Wire, NC spokesperson Ifra Jan further said that Aga’s resignation won’t harm the party. “If Ruhullah fights openly against the BJP, I will be the first to join him,” she said.