Sitharaman slams Cong, Oppn for questioning IAF air strikes

Hyderabad: Hitting out at the Opposition and Congress in particular over questioning the air strikes inside Pakistan after Pulwama terror attack, Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman Sunday said the BJP government gave freedom to the armed forces to act and they delivered.
Not respecting armed forces, but to bring them to shame to make them kneel down to their interests and even defame them has been the approach of the Congress party, Sitharaman alleged.
“None of their (Congress) alliance partners be it from the Communists to the regional parties who are their friends today could even say please don’t make badnaam of our armed forces,” she said at an event here.
“Today they shed crocodile tears for Pulwama,” she alleged. The government, Sitharaman said, had credible information that more such (Pulwama like) suicide terror attacks may happen and to prevent such attacks “we had to take a pre-emptive strike in Balakot.”
Sitharaman was addressing an ex-servicemen and intellectuals meet here organised by BJP candidate N Ramchander Rao who is contesting from the Malkajgiri Lok Sabha segment. They (opposition) even had the courage to ask the government for evidence, she said. (PTI)