Madhya Pradesh minister Govind Singh Kushwah joined the bandwagon of opposition leaders accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using country's armed forces for political gains.
The senior Congress leader said that the surgical strikes were “conspiracies” hatched by the prime minister to win elections.
He also said that 25 surgical strikes were carried out during the previous UPA government, but they never promoted it for winning elections.
The cross-border air strike carried out by the Indian Air Force has sparked off a major political debate in the country ahead of the Lok Sabha polls with opposition parties demanding "proof" of the impact of the operation.
“Modi ji has been trying to use surgical strikes as a conspiracy to win elections. The party (BJP) is also spoiling the image of the Army,” Kushwah was quote as saying by the ANI.
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His comments came a day after National Conference president Farooq Abdullah said on Monday that the BJP-led government ordered the Balakot operation with the sole purpose of winning elections.
On February 26, a fleet IAF Mirage 2000 fighter jets crossed the border and pounded a major terror training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammad at Balakot. The IAF strike was in response to a suicide attack on a CRPF convoy at Pulwama on February 14, orchestrated by the JeM, killing 40 jawans.
Though the IAF and the government confirmed the operation at Balakot, a major controversy erupted over the number of casualties with the opposition parties seeking “proof” of the impact of the air strike.
