NEW DELHI: What was simmering gossip that's been doing the rounds from Delhi to Srinagar recently – that the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, the 41-year-old Omar Abdullah , and his wife of 17-odd years, Payal Nath , are heading for a split– can now be safely assumed to be official status. The couple, prominent faces in the social circles of Delhi, are believed to have filed for a separation.

Payal had continued to live in Delhi with their sons Zahir and Zamir after Omar Abdullah took over as the J&K CM. Over the past few months, he has been studiously avoiding Payal's Akbar Road residence during the course of his visits to Delhi, preferring instead to stay at Farooq Abdullah's Safdarjung residence, or at J&K House on 5, Prithiviraj Road, parts of which were supposedly refurbished on that account.

Sources say that Omar Abdullah and Payal's separation is by mutual consent. Omar, among the more suave politicians of the country, is well regarded in Delhi's social circles, and while people DT spoke to confirmed the fact that the split had been coming for a while, most of them declined to comment on the speculation over the reason behind the split. They did, however, affirm that talk of Omar Abdullah's remarriage is on.

UPDATE:

On Thursday afternoon Omar Abdullah partly confirmed and partly denied this story . He tweeted that he had indeed separated from his wife, Payal, but the speculation about him marrying another woman was unfounded. "While it's true my wife and I have separated, speculation about the motives and my future actions are unfounded, untrue, I appeal to the media to please allow me and my family privacy. Am sure you will appreciate that I have not let this affect my work."

