Ghaziabad:
The Kargil conflict of 1999 has been dragged into the national election campaign in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad, where former army chief VK Singh is a candidate and a large number of former soldiers are voters.
Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan controversially said today that a Muslim was behind the victory of Indian troops in Kargil.
"The soldier who conquered the mountains of Kargil was not a Hindu but a Muslim," Mr Khan said at a rally on Monday in the district neighbouring Delhi.
General VK Singh, who is the BJP candidate for Ghaziabad, today responded to that statement saying, "Indians won the Kargil battle for India."
Ghaziabad will vote on Thursday for the nine-phase national election that ends on May 12. The votes will be counted on May 16.