Farooq Abdullah questions BJP's claims over Balakot airstrike

National Conference (NC) chairman Farooq Abdullah on Monday launched an attack on the BJP-led Central government over its claims on the IAF strike in Pakistan's Balakot.

"If 300 people have died [in Balakot air strike], would there not be an international cry to ascertain the matter? Today no one talks of Ram temple. Before that strike in Balakot, it was just temple, temple, and temple," he said, while addressing an election rally here with Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu.

Abdullah also said that the country should maintain good relations with the neighbouring countries. "It was not fair on the part of the Central government to attack the neighbouring country keeping in view the ensuing elections," he said.

On February 26, the Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out a strike at a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror training camp at Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The strike was in response to the terror attack in Pulwama in which 40 CRPF personnel lost their lives.

Firing a fresh salvo on YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) president YS Jaganmohan Reddy, he said: "Jagan met me in the past and was ready to offer Rs 1,500 crore to the Congress high command if he were made the Chief Minister of the united Andhra Pradesh. I wonder from where he got this huge amount of money. The money belongs to the people."

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu equated voting for Reddy to voting for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that there was "no protection" for Muslims during Modi regime. The TDP supremo also promised to implement minority sub-plan for the benefit of Muslims.