BJP slams Congress for crediting Nehru with Chandrayaan-2's success

BJP leader Nalin Kohli on Monday slammed Congress party crediting the success of India's lunar mission Chandrayaan-2 to India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already credited all past prime ministers for their contribution in making India what it is today. But Congress's tweet indicates that the credit for Chandrayaan-2 is solely attributable to Jawaharlal Nehru," Kohli said.

"My suggestion to Congress is that they should also inform the people about Nehru's policies vis-a-vis Article 370 and the UN resolution in 1948 regarding Kashmir. Then there would be a proper discussion on Nehru's achievements and failures. Congress just cannot tweet about what suits them and ignore other realities," he added.

Earlier, the Congress party credited the country's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru for his "visionary move" to fund space research through setting up of Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR).

"This is a good time to remember the visionary move of India's first PM Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to fund space research through INCOSPAR in1962 which later became ISRO. And also Dr Manmohan Singh for sanctioning the Chandrayan2 project in 2008," the party said tweeting a picture of the first Prime Minister with legendary scientist Vikram Sarabhai.

Congratulating ISRO for the successful launch, the party said in another tweet, "Congratulations Team @isro for the successful launch of Chandryaan2."

INCOSPAR was set up by the Government of India in 1962. Indian Space Research Organisation, formed in 1969, superseded the erstwhile INCOSPAR.

Chandrayaan-2 was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh on Monday afternoon.

The spacecraft took off at 2.43 pm, exactly a week after the mission was aborted after a technical snag was detected less than an hour before the launch.

Chandrayaan-2 will explore a region of Moon where no mission has ever set foot. The spacecraft consists of an orbiter, a lander, and a rover together referred to as "composite body".

The probe's total mass is 3.8 ton and is expected to land on the Moon's south polar region on September 6 or 7 this year.

It will be the first Indian expedition to attempt a soft landing on the lunar surface. This mission will make India the fourth country after the US, Russia, and China to carry out a soft landing on Moon.