Congress pulls up PM Modi for trying to hog the limelight at the cost of ISRO scientists

Shubhadeep Choudhury

New Delhi, August 24

Complimenting the ISRO team under Chairman S Somanath for the success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission, the Congress on Thursday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of hypocrisy and pulled him up for trying to hog the limelight at the cost of the scientists.

“The excitement and pride of the #Chandrayaan3 landing will stay with us for a long time. ISRO Chairman Dr. Somanath’s leadership truly created history and we extend our hearty congratulations to him and his team”, Congress general secretary K C Venugopal today said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

The Congress leader, however, added that the PM must answer some of his “hypocrisy”.

“You were quick to come on screen and take credit after the landing, but why has your government failed so terribly in supporting the scientists and the ISRO?”, Venugopal asked.

“Why did the HEC engineers who worked on Chandrayaan 3 not receive their salaries for the last 17 months?”, Venugopal added.

The Congress leader also asked Modi that why the budget for such crucial missions has been cut by 32 per cent.

Lauding ISRO scientists for running “a world-class space research programme”, Venugopal accused Modi of having “no regard for their talent and hard work”.

“To add insult to injury, you hogged the limelight when that moment was about the scientists’ achievements”, Venugopal said slamming the Prime Minister.