Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik on Tuesday hinted that he may be transferred out of the state following his remarks that People’s Conference leader Sajad Lone would have been the chief minister if Malik had followed Centre’s orders, reported The Indian Express.

Malik talked about a “threat of transfer” while speaking at a function to mark the death anniversary of Congress leader Girdhari Lal Dogra in Jammu. “As long as I’m here – it is not in my hands – I don’t know when I will be transferred from here,” Malik said, according to NDTV. “I will not lose my job but the threat of transfer is there. As long as I am here, I assure you people that whenever you call me, I will come here to pay my tributes.”

Following allegations that he had dissolved the Assembly at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre, Malik said on November 24: “If I was following the Centre’s orders, I would have to make [People’s Conference leader Sajad] Lone the chief minister.” He reiterated the remarks to News18 on Tuesday.

The Jammu and Kashmir Raj Bhawan issued a statement on Tuesday clarifying that there was “no pressure or any kind of intervention” from the Centre in dissolving the Assembly.

Former Chief Ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah praised Malik for rejecting such orders from the Centre. Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said the governor has exposed the Modi government’s alleged “sinister design of installing an illegitimate government by horse trading and coercion.

Sajad Lone, however, told NDTV that Malik’s comments were disrespectful. “The Governor can’t rip me apart in the media,” he said. “It is not good that you go on TV and portray every Kashmiri as corrupt. We won’t take it. It was a very disdainful, disrespectful characterisation of Kashmiris.”