Surgical strikes row refuses to die down ; Parrikar-Cong contest over bid for credit

New Delhi/ Mumbai: A row among political parties over alleged attempts of politicising the surgical strikes by the Indian Army on terrorist launch pads across the Line of Control, refused to die down even today. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar assigned full credit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the decision to wipe out terrorist launch pads across the LoC in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and rejected the Congress claim that such strikes were conducted during the previous UPA regime too.

The opposition party wasted no time in vehemently refuting the Defence Minister's stance and demanding a public apology from the latter for "shamelessly denying the factum of earlier surgical strikes" under the previous regimes."The Defence Minister on two occasions today made remarks which we vehemently dismiss and strongly condemn..,It does not behoove a defence minister to insult the service, sacrifice and valor of the Armed forces by shamelessly denying the factum of earlier surgical strikes", party spokesman Randeep Surjewala said in the national capital.

Earlier in the day, addressing the Materials Engineering Technology (MET) conference in Navi Mumbai, Mr Parrikar said the Indian security forces deserved credit for successfully carrying out surgical strikes in PoK. However, he said the major credit for the success went to the Prime Minister.

"Credit goes to our armed forces, but I must at least claim the credit for the Prime Minister whose decision making and planning deserves major credit," Mr Parrikar told reporters on the sidelines of the function. 'The credit goes to the military and 127 crore people of the country, he quickly added. The Minister said he would not like to comment on the issue further as it may again be projected as if "I am politicising the issue". "The debate, centered around taking credit, should end now", he quipped. (UNI)