Maharashtra Congress president Ashok Chavan on Wednesday slammed the BJP for “politicising” actions of defence forces and asserted nobody was questioning the Army or the IAF on surgical strikes and aerial attack on terror targets in Pakistan.
He also said there was no doubt that what happened in Pulwama on February 14 was a terror attack and not an “accident” as claimed by his party colleague Digvijay Singh.
Talking to reporters here, Chavan said his party was opposed to the manner in which the BJP was politicising military operations for its own gains.
“See the way different BJP leaders are speaking (on air strikes) and trying to draw political mileage. It is wrong to use military operations for politics,” said the former Maharashtra chief minister.
He said nobody was questioning the Army or the IAF on surgical strikes and aerial attack on terror targets in Pakistan.
Asked about Singh, a senior Congress leader, terming the Pulwama suicide bombing as an “accident”, Chavan disagreed with his party colleague and said it was a wrong description.
“Pulwama was a terror attack and not an accident. Calling the attack an accident is wrong. Several kilos of RDX were used in the attack. It was no doubt a terror attack,” the Lok Sabha MP from Nanded said.
Referring to the Centre’s statement in the Supreme Court that some files related to the Rafale jet deal with France have been stolen, Chavan said this was a serious matter.
“The issue is serious. One can imagine the magnitude of scam when a government lawyer tells the Supreme Court that defence ministry files regarding Rafale have been stolen. The government’s intentions are in doubt now,” he said.
To a question on the Ahmednagar Lok Sabha seat, Chavan said the Congress wants to contest from the constituency that is currently in ally NCP’s quota.
“However, there is no progress on the talks regarding this seat,” he added.
