PM Modi visited Pakistan without any invitation...: Nana Patole

Nana Patole. Pic/PTI

Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole on Tuesday said that it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who went uninvited to Pakistan to meet their former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif but now has started to remember the same neighbouring country for electoral gains, reported news agency ANI.

"BJP is now feeling that the ground beneath their feet is slipping away, and that is why Narendra Modi is making such baseless statements. Making repeated references related to Pakistan in Indian elections shows that they are fearful of their defeat in the ongoing elections," Nana Patole told reporters.

Patole further said that Prime Minister Modi is unable to forget the "taste of Biryani" during his visit and that is the reason he is consistently remembering the neighbours, reported ANI.

"PM Modi met Nawaz Sharif in Pakistan, his plane landed there without even any invitation and he is not forgetting the taste of biryani which he tasted there, and that is why he remembers Pakistan every now. He has relations with Pakistan and that is why it is his responsibility to make references to Pakistan regularly," he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a surprise visit to Pakistan on December 25, this was the first visit to Pakistan by an Indian Prime Minister in more than 10 years, reported ANI.

PM Modi claimed on Tuesday that the Congress party has given a clean chit to Pakistan for orchestrating the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks and has even supported Ajmal Kasab, a terrorist convicted and later sentenced to death, for his role in the attacks.

"The statement of a Maharashtra Congress leader about the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks is very dangerous. These Congress leaders are now taking the side of the terrorist, Kasab. During the Congress rule, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and those close to the Congress family have called Kasab innocent," PM Modi said while campaigning at Maharashtra's Ahmednagar on Tuesday, reported ANI.

Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar, who is also the Leader of the Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly stoked controversy over his statement on the 26/11 attack.

He claimed that former ATS chief Hemant Karkare was "not killed by terrorists during the 26/11 attack but by a police official close to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh." PM Modi said that even though it is an established fact that those involved in the Mumbai terror attacks were sponsored by Pakistan, the Congress is claiming them to be innocent, reported ANI.

"Wasn't the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks sponsored by Pakistan? Who killed our soldiers, our innocent people? You (the public) and the world know the truth, our court has also given the decision, and even Pakistan has admitted it. There are phone records of the terrorists as well. But the Congress party is issuing a certificate of innocence to terrorists," he said, reported ANI.

The Prime Minister said that by giving such statements the Congress is insulting those who died in the Mumbai terror attacks.

(With inputs from ANI)