"Congress' Approach To Terror Has Always Been Weak": Nirmala Sitharaman

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman attacked the Congress on Saturday, claiming that the party's approach towards terror has always been "weak and soft" and that terror incidents were tolerated during the Congress' tenure without a serious response.

Ms Sitharaman said, "You saw it during the ten years of Congress rule how terror attacks were tolerated, proper response was not given. They believed in sending dossiers to Pakistan. The attitude and approach of the Congress party towards terror has always been weak and soft."

Earlier on May 2, Prime Minister Narendra Modi targeted the previous UPA government accusing it of giving "dossiers" to terrorists while alleging a partnership between Congress and Pakistan.

Calling it a "coincidence", the Prime Minister said that the Congress party is weakening in India adding that Pakistan leaders are offering "dua" (prayers) for the party to return to power.

Referring to the UPA rule as 'shaasankaal' (reign) and the current NDA rule as 'sevakaal' (service period), PM Modi accused Congress of trying to divide the country.

Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy on Friday asked questions from the government over the Pulwama terror attack in 2019.

The Chief Minister accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of trying to reap "political benefits" from the Pulwama incident after Indian Air Force carried out air strikes at a terror camp in Pakistan.

He also raised questions over the air strikes.The terror attack on a CRPF convoy killed 40 personnel."Modiji attempted to extract political and electoral benefits from the airstrikes after the Pulwama incident. I want to ask him: What were you doing? Why did you let it happen? What did you do to boost the country's internal security? Why did you not take the help of the agencies at your disposal such as the IB and R&AW? It was your failure. Nobody knows for sure if the airstrike, as was claimed, took place. If the responsibility of ensuring the country's internal security was with us, we wouldn't have left it in anyone's hands," Mr Reddy wrote on X.

Earlier on May 4, Ms Sitharaman accused the Congress Party of politicising the alleged obscene video case of the sitting MP and candidate from Hassan Lok Sabha constituency, Prajwal Revanna.

While replying to a question about whether the row over Prajwal Revanna would affect the BJP in Karnataka during the Lok Sabha election and the ticket given to Brij Bhushan Saran's son in UP, despite Brij Bhushan facing an inquiry over allegations of sexual harassment by women wrestlers, Ms Sitharam said that the BJP strongly stands against dynastic politics.

The Finance Minister further alleged that the case regarding Mr Revanna is with the state government, which is governed by Congress, which did not act on the case for an entire year.

She also said that the Karnataka government, by targeting the BJP, is now writing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the case, asking to issue lookout notices against Revanna and bring him back.

Speaking about Brij Bhushan Saran's son- Karan Singh getting a ticket from BJP from Kaiserganj, the Finance Minister said that the allegations have not been proven against Brij Bhushan.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)