Maharashtra polls: Congress targets PM over his ceasefire violations remarks

Mumbai: Lashing out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his remarks that issues like ceasefire violations should not be a matter of debate for political gains, Congress on Friday said Modi himself had centered his Lok Sabha campaign over border tensions with Pakistan and China.

Dubbing Modi as BJP's "Prachar Mantri" instead of the Prime Minister of the country, AICC Secretary Sanjay Nirupam alleged that despite the huge mandate to the BJP-led NDA in the Lok Sabha elections, issues of border security and economy are being ignored by the government.

Addressing a press conference, Nirupam said that in August last year, Modi had tweeted about China intruding into the Indian territory and Pakistan killing our soldiers while the Centre was keeping quiet.

"Similarly, as the Chief Minister of Gujarat, his 2007 assembly election campaign was centered around Miya Musharraf (former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf). Now, he says issues of ceasefire violations should not be a matter of public debate," Nirupam said.

He wondered if Modi was withdrawing his previous comments about criticism of UPA government on the issue. "India does not have a full-fledged defence minister.

It took Arun Jaitley eight days to respond to the Pakistan ceasefire violations. Instead of supervising the situation, holding joint meetings and opening diplomatic channels, the Prime Minister gave Army Chief General Suhag only five minutes at an airport," Nirupam alleged.

He also criticised the Prime Minister's comments at a Mumbai rally that diesel prices had come down since he took over.

"The present rate is Rs 67.36 and has increased since May. Modi also said Maharashtra government had usurped the land reserved for war widows and the state was lagging behind Gujarat," he alleged.

"I condemn such statements from the Prime Minister. Maharashtra has always been the number one state in the country and was ahead of Gujarat in terms of GDP, per capita income, infant mortality rate, road development, food grain production and employment generation," he said.

Nirupam charged that the state BJP leaders were keeping mum when their leader was projecting a wrong image of the state and defaming it. "Modi should withdraw his remarks about Maharashtra and apologise," he demanded.