PM Modi 'fool' for taking advantage of surgical strikes: Former Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah

Former Karnataka chief minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Saturday said the Prime Minister is a "fool" for taking political advantage of surgical strikes.

"He (Modi) is a fool. Taking political advantage of surgical strikes is his big mistake," Siddaramaiah said while speaking to media persons here.

Lambasting the Prime Minister for taking all credit for the surgical strikes, Siddaramaiah said: "Our armed forces carried out the surgical strike. Did he (Modi) carry a gun to do a surgical strike? Why is he (Modi) claiming credit for it?" he added.

Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Kumaraswamy had also attacked Prime Minister Modi, saying that he is using the Balakot air strike to his political advantage in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

"He doesn't know the meaning. He can speak but misusing his office is wrong. In this country, several Prime Ministers came. Several times the India-Pakistan war took place. Nobody has taken advantage of those issues for their personal benefits," the Chief Minister said.

Responding to a question where he had said that Modi does not know the difference between Balakot and Bagalkot, Kumaraswamy had said: "He (Prime Minister Modi) is the only person, he is misleading people that he went to Pakistan border and he only dropped the bomb on terror camps in Balakot. That way he is projecting himself."

Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out air strikes at Jaish-e-Mohammad's (JeM) largest training camp at Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province during the wee hours on February 26 in retaliation of JeM's debilitating attack on CRPF convoy in south Kashmir's Pulwama district in which as many as 40 jawans were killed.