India, July 12 -- Praful Patel, BJP ally NCP's Working President, said on Sunday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party "fully respects democratic traditions". He was refuting claims by Jammu and Kashmir CM Omar Abdullah that the BJP was attempting to lure his party National Conference's (NC) MLAs to try and come to power in the UT "through the back door".

Patel, who remained a minister in the Congress-led UPA regime of Manmohan Singh before Modi rose to power, said the BJP "operates with faith in the democratic process".

He rejected Omar Abdullah's allegations that the BJP was "breaking several political parties".

Patel belongs to the late Ajit Pawar's NCP that got the original name and symbol from the Election Commission in 2024, ...