‘Anything to win poll’: Telangana CM Reddy questions surgical strikes

Neeraj Mohan

New Delhi, May 11

On the last day of the campaign for the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy has stirred a controversy by questioning the veracity of the surgical strikes on Pakistan by the Indian Army and raising fresh doubts over the Pulwama terror attack of 2019.

Raddy’s remarks, made during a press conference, have ignited a fierce political battle with the BJP launching a scathing attack on the Congress, accusing it of undermining national security and questioning the might of the Army.

According to Reddy, the Pulwama attack and its aftermath were “cynically exploited by PM Modi for political mileage”. “For Modi, everything is political. Everything is about winning elections. His way of thinking is not good for the country. The time has come for the country to be rid of Modi and the BJP. Ask them anything and they will respond with ‘Jai Shri Ram’. They failed to prevent the Pulwama attack. What was the IB doing? What was our intelligence network doing?”

Claiming that PM Modi tried to derive political and electoral benefits from the Pulwama attack and the retaliatory action by the Indian Air Force (IAF), Reddy said, “Modi-ji attempted to extract political and electoral benefits from the airstrikes. I want to ask him: What were you doing? Why did you let it happen? What did you do to boost the country’s internal security? Why did you not take the help of agencies such as the IB and R&AW? It was your failure. Nobody knows for sure if the airstrike, as was claimed, took place. If the responsibility of ensuring the country’s internal security was with us, we wouldn’t have left it in anyone’s hands.”

Hitting back, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla alleged that the Congress was providing support to Pakistan by questioning the bravery of the Indian military and giving a “clean chit” to the neighbouring nation. Poonawalla emphasised that such actions jeopardised India’s stance on terrorism on the international stage.

Reddy’s critique extended beyond national security to the realm of politics, as he took a dig at PM Modi’s age and economic policies. Drawing parallels with BJP veterans LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, Reddy questioned whether PM Modi would retire at the age of 75, a limit he had enforced for other senior leaders. He further accused PM Modi of mishandling the country’s economy. “From 1947 to 2014, 14 PMs borrowed Rs 55 lakh crore whereas PM Modi alone borrowed Rs 113 lakh crore,” Reddy claimed.

Will Modi retire at 75, asks Revanth Reddy

Drawing parallels with BJP veterans LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, CM Reddy questioned whether PM Modi would retire at 75, a limit he himself had enforced for other veterans. He accused PM of mishandling the country’s economy, citing alarming levels of borrowing during his tenure