With Modi on surgical strikes, says Kejriwal (Roundup)

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday reiterated support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the surgical strikes and accused the BJP of doing politics over the army operation.

Speaking in Jodhpur, Kejriwal again urged Modi to give a "befitting reply" to Islamabad's insistence that no such operation took place and New Delhi was lying about the September 28-29 surgical strikes.

"Pakistan is spreading false propaganda on surgical strikes and is telling the international media that no surgical strikes took place," the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader told reporters.

"The Prime Minister should give Pakistan a befitting reply," he said.

Kejriwal's comments followed a spate of aggressive criticism by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which accused the Delhi Chief Minister of raising doubts about the surgical strikes across the Line of Control.

India said it carried out the operation and destroyed terrorist launch pads following the September 18 attack by terrorists on an army camp which killed 19 soldiers at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir.

Kejriwal said: "We all know that surgical strikes were conducted. In my video, I had appealed to the Prime Minister that we all will have to give Pakistan a befitting reply over its propaganda on the surgical strikes."

Earlier, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad accused Kejriwal of supposedly seeking proof of the surgical strikes carried out by the army.

Hundreds of BJP activists also staged a noisy demonstration in New Delhi against Kejriwal, demanding his resignation.

Kejriwal said: "I am very sad to know that Ravi Shankar Prasad is saying that I am doing politics over this issue. It is the BJP which is doing politics.

"Why is the BJP so much rattled if we say that we have to give a befitting reply to Pakistan on its false propaganda on surgical strikes?"

The theme was echoed by AAP leader Sanjay Singh, who urged the Prime Minister to quash the propaganda of the Pakistanis. He said: "There are no questions on the integrity of the PM or the valour of the army.

"In his video, Kejriwal saluted the Prime Minister... He said the Indian Army enhanced the prestige of the country through the surgical strike...

"We said the Prime Minster should put an end to the claims by international and Pakistani media by revealing the truth about the surgical strikes.

"Is it wrong to salute one's Prime Minister or hail the Indian Army? Neither did we question the Prime Minister nor the army," the AAP leader said.

--IANS

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