The ‘first step’ itself was a non-starter. His epistle termed the allegations of an MLA "serious, frivolous, fabricated, malicious and baseless" and prayed: "I will be obliged if you could enquire into the allegations against me in a time-bound manner and if you are satisfied that there is any basis in these allegations please accept my resignation immediately.” What it meant was: “If Your Highness permits, I’ll stick to the chair!” Vohra, who is more like India's Viceroy to Srinagar because of J&K’s constitutional status, dashed off to New Delhi to consult the rulers in Delhi. Predictably negating the very essence of the vaunted morality, he asked Abdullah to continue to discharge his duties as CM. He indicated that he would consider the resignation only after being fully informed of the details of the allegation and being satisfied about the verified basis thereof and apparently take a final decision in consultation with Delhi bosses. And, the CM apparently accepted the 'sane' counsel.

At the root of the resignation farce was the infamous Srinagar sex scandal that rocked the State in 2006. The interrogation of an arrested woman had blown the lid off a well-entrenched ring. She revealed how professional call girls and small girl children were being sent to entertain politicians, senior bureaucrats and top officers of paramilitary forces who actually reigned in the State. It is a bitter fact that the emergence of 'dynastical democratic' regimes at the Centre and in most States (including J&K) has bred over four dozen corrupt political outfits. They are replete with cronies and sycophants fuelling demand for such 'services'. Though it has become a national level phenomenon in free India to get official work done, it triggered a huge outcry when taken up by Kashmir women’s groups.

After the Central Bureau of Investigation's probe into the scandal, 17 people were chargesheeted, including State Ministers GA Mir and Raman Mattoo and Principal Secretary Mohammed Iqbal Khandey. However, the two judges who tried the case, Justices BA Kirmani and Hakeem Imtiaz Hussain, unanimously termed the investigation by CBI, as lax and deficient. They questioned why certain influential persons who had been named and identified by witnesses, were left out. An opposition MLA Muzaffar Hussain Baig provided the trigger for the current drama when he alleged that Omar's name figured as serial number 102 in a document that was produced in the J&K High Court. “But, no investigation was carried against these high-ranking politicians,” he said, and dared Abdullah to resign on moral grounds. He elaborated: "This is a list prepared by the CBI and police. Both Omar and his father figure on the list as suspects and among the accused. I do not know why the CBI dragged its feet after top politicians’ names popped up on it.”

Omar was pushed to a corner as the 'list of suspects' acquired the stamp of legislative authority when speaker Akbar Lone took cognisance and sought clarification from the CBI. "What kind of list is it? Whether it has someone’s signature on it or where it originated is not known. Why should the speaker allow it without examination?” fumed top bosses of Delhi's Home Ministry. But the obfuscation came unstuck as Lone confirmed the contents of the communication from CBI Director Ashwani Kumar. It said: “...It is clarified that nine chargesheets have been filed in connection with RC(S)2006/SCR/III in competent courts against 17 persons. The name of Omar Abdullah does neither figure nor that of Farooq Abdullah in the list of accused persons chargesheeted in the case.”

Baig kept up the pressure, saying that his exact allegation was that the agency covered up the accusations by witnesses and left out the names of certain individuals from the chargesheet. He reiterated: “Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah’s name figures in the list that the CBI had produced before the High Court. The name of Farooq Abdullah, also figures in the list. It is at number 38. I did not take his name (in the legislature) because he is not a member of the House.” He went on: “The CBI always tried to hush up the case to save high profile politicians. The CBI should re-investigate their links with the sex scandal under the supervision of the Supreme Court.”

Incidentally, Baig’s party itself is linked to the scandal. He however, claimed that his was the first party to have acted against its leaders whose names surfaced in the scandal. “We did not even offer any mandate to the tainted leaders,” he said.