Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar on Friday said the BJP leaders who criticized his comments on the Israel-Palestine issue were being "more loyal than the king", and welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement about India continuing its humanitarian assistance to the people of Palestine.
His (Pawar's) views were in line with the stand of past prime ministers including Jawaharlal Nehru and Atal Bihari Vajpayee who supported a peaceful resolution of the long-standing dispute where Israel and Palestine can live in peace as neighbours, Mr Pawar said in X.
"I appreciate Modi for endorsing the stand taken by previous prime ministers on the Israel-Palestine issue," the former defence minister added.
Over the last few days, BJP leaders Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal, Devendra Fadnavis and Himanta Biswa Sarma offered "unsolicited advice and comments" without understanding his comments, Mr Pawar said.
"With PM Modi's statement, I hope the BJP leaders who misconstrued my statement will understand the nation's stand on such a sensitive issue," he said, adding that the English phrase "more loyal than the king" probably describes their attitude.
Earlier, Mr Pawar had said PM Modi's initial statement following Hamas' incursions into Israel conveyed a different position than that articulated by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
"The external affairs ministry's statement has established that India has always supported the Palestine cause, and we will continue (to do so), but we are against any organisation which is involved in (terror) attacks. But the prime minister...gave assurance to the (Israel) prime minister that we are with Israel," the NCP chief had said.
He then came in for flak from BJP leaders. Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said Pawar should strongly condemn terrorism and not think of "vote-bank politics".
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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