Sanjay Saraf, who belongs to a party which is part of the NDA, on Sunday confirmed that he had met Syed Ali Shah Geelani but dismissed reports that he had carried any message from Narendra Modi to the hardline Hurriyat leader.

Lok Janshakti Party National Youth President Saraf said his relations with the separatist leader were “personal”.

“I have been meeting Geelani for the past so many years. I have not met him in the context that has been reported,” Saraf said.

Saraf said he rushed here from Bihar after he was named as one of the emissaries of Modi that Geelani claimed had called on him for opening a dialogue with the BJP leader.
“This is a completely baseless report. I have not met Geelani since he was taken to Delhi for treatment in early March this year,” he said.

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 BJP by making a “commitment” to seek a solution to Kashmir issue.

Geelani has not named the emissaries so far.