Rahul Gandhi today praised PM Narendra Modi over surgical strikes in Pak Occupied Kashmir
A day after India announced surgical strikes carried out against terrorists in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, Rahul Gandhi took a major detour from his usual narrative and said he wanted to congratulate Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the "first action worthy of a PM".
Addressing a public meeting in Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr, the Congress Vice President said: "When the Prime Minister does the job a PM is supposed to do, I support him. I want to congratulate him."
Mr Gandhi, 45, has been trenchant in his criticism of PM Modi and his policies ever since the BJP came to power in 2014, ending the Congress-led coalition's 10-year run.
"In the last two years and more this is the first action worthy of a PM. The whole country is with him. All of us stand firmly united against terrorism and those who support and sponsor it," Mr Gandhi said.
Last evening, Mr Gandhi's statement on the surgical strikes had no reference to PM Modi.
"All of us stand firmly united against terrorism and those who support and sponsor it. The Congress Party and I salute the Indian Army and our jawans for acting valiantly to defend our country and our people," said the statement.
Many other parties congratulated the army.
PM Modi's arch rival Nitish Kumar did include the central government in his commendation. "We sincerely congratulate the Central Government and our brave armed forces for the decisive action taken against terrorism," tweeted the Bihar Chief Minister, who had also supported the prime minister after the Uri attack, saying there should be no politics over terror.