Charanjit Channi calls attack on IAF’s convoy ‘stunt’; triggers a row

PTI

Chandigarh, May 5

Congress leader Charanjit Singh Channi on Sunday called the Poonch terror attack in which an IAF soldier was killed and four were injured, a stunt meant to make the BJP win the Lok Sabha election.

The remark by the former Punjab chief minister and Congress candidate from Jalandhar triggered a row with Union minister Anurag Thakur asking the Congress leadership to seek an apology from the countrymen for insulting soldiers with this deplorable statement.

BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa called Channi's statement appalling and disrespectful towards soldiers.

Replying to a question on the attack on the Indian Air Force's convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch, Channi said, "'Yeh stuntbaazi ho rahi hai, hamle nahi ho rahe' (These are all stunts, not attacks)."        

"Whenever elections are near, such stunts are performed to make the BJP win. There is no truth in it," he said while replying to the question in Jalandhar.

One soldier was killed and four were injured as terrorists ambushed an IAF convoy in Poonch district on Saturday, three weeks ahead of polling in Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha constituency.

Thakur strongly condemned Channi's remarks and asked the Congress whether it would insult soldiers to win election.

He asked Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and the party president to seek an apology over Channi's remarks.

"They insult our Army" said Thakur, who was in Jalandhar on Sunday.

Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar also condemned Channi's remarks as "shameful".

"Ghastly statement by CWC member Channi belittling the valour of our brave soldiers is no less a crime and an insult to the nation. Channi's shameful statement on the attack on our Air Force personnel in Poonch calling their valour as a stunt shows the bankruptcy and frustration of Channi," he said.

"The nation will not forgive him. He should hang his head in shame. The Congress and its allies should come clean on this issue. They should publicly disassociate from his statement and ask him to apologise to the nation immediately," Jakhar said in a post on X.

BJP leader Sirsa said, "I condemn Charanjit Singh Channi's statement of calling the martyrdom of an IAF personnel in Kashmir "stuntbaazi".

"The Congress is saying that he was martyred because of election. This mentality is not just appalling but disrespectful to those who serve our nation," he said. 

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