Srinagar: Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday brushed aside the Centre's explanation on the alleged snooping of Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, asking why the Union Home Ministry did not come out with it immediately.

"If the explanation for the 'snooping' is correct, then two questions - why didn't MHA offer this explanation about 500+ profiles immediately," Omar, who is working president of Opposition National Conference, wrote on Twitter.

The Union Home Ministry had earlier said that the enquiries made by Delhi Police officials were "routine", carried out by the police for years and that the same had been done in the case of the Prime Minister, the Home Minister and BJP chief Amit Shah, veteran leader L K Advani, and other senior opposition leaders like M Veerappa Moily, Naresh Agarwal, and K Chandrasekhar Rao.

Omar, however, also questioned if Congress had scored a "self goal" by trying to make an issue that had a simple explanation.

"Has the Congress managed to score a self goal by trying to make an issue out of something with a patently simple explanation," he wrote on the micro-blogging site.