'Only Pak and Rahul Gandhi were asking proof for Balakot air strike'

The Maharashtra chief minister also hit out at the Congress and said the party only made false assurances and that speeches by its leaders are a source of entertainment

In a potential controversial statement, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday said had the BJP government known Opposition leaders including Rahul Gandhi would ask for proof of Balakot strike then they would have attached one of their leaders to the missile fired on Pakistan.

"Only Pakistan and Congress party's Rahul Gandhi were asking for proof of Balakot air strike. If we had known about it earlier, then one of your leaders could have been attached with a missile which was fired on Pakistan to go and see what our armed forces have done," said Fadnavis while addressing a public rally on Tuesday.

He later clarified that he had made the remarks in jest. "Pakistan and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi always used to ask for proof of Balakot airstrike, so I jokingly said if we would have known about it, one of your leaders could have been attached with a missile fired on Pakistan and then you could have seen what our jawans did," Fadnavis said.

Following the terror attack in which India lost over 40 CRPF personnel when a JeM operative targeted their convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama on February 14, the Indian Air Force conducted an air strike on the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) camp in Balakot in Pakistan on February 26.

The Maharashtra chief minister also hit out at the Congress and said the party only made false assurances and that speeches by its leaders are a source of entertainment.

"The speeches of Congress leaders are just entertainment and nothing important is there in it. The speeches are directed against Prime Minister Narendra Modi," said Fadnavis.

Maharashtra has 48 Lok Sabha constituencies in which 7, 10 and 14 seats went for polling in the first, second and third phase of polling respectively while the remaining 17 seats will witness poll in the fourth phase on April 29.

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