Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar has claimed that there were four surgical strikes against terrorists across the Line of Control (LoC) during the UPA government, however, they did not go public about those.
"There were four surgical strikes (across the LoC) when we (UPA) were in power. However, we did not publicise it," PTI quoted Pawar as saying.
Pawar, who was the defence minister for two years during the Congress government led by prime minister PV Narasimha Rao, was also the chief minister of Maharashtra when its capital Mumbai was rocked by a series of bomb blasts.
Previously, Pawar had congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi on taking action on surgical strikes. He had objected to proofs of such an operation being made public.
"Some things should not be made public," he said during the NCP convention in Nagpur. "Our Government carried out surgical strikes in Myanmar, but our operation was limited and we never tried to capitalise on it," he said.
Pawar's statements would add more fuel to the already raging debate over the Indian Army's surgical strikes along the LoC on the intervening nights of September 27 and September 28.
Recently, PM Modi warned his ministers on chest-thumping over the Army's actions and speaking out of turn.
