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Updated: May 03, 2019 13:29 IST

Union minister Prakash Javadekar has hit out at the Congress’ claims about the six surgical strikes across the border into Pakistan, which were carried during the UPA government’s reign.

Congress leader Rajiv Shukla had listed the dates between 2008 and 2014 when the strikes were carried out during a press conference on Thursday and said they never tried to take political advantage from military operations.

Shukla’s list came after former prime minister Manmohan Singh said in an exclusive interview to Hindustan Times that multiple surgical strikes had taken place during his tenure.

Also read: Many surgical strikes during UPA’s tenure’, says former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

And on Friday, Prakash Javadekar became the latest BJP leader to criticise the Congress in a tweet and called out its “false claim”.

“Till recently, Congress was asking for proof of surgical strike. Now they say they have conducted 6 such strikes!” Prakash Javadekar tweeted on Friday.

“An RTI enquiry has revealed that the first #SurgicalStrikes happened in 2016 and NOT before. One more false claim by Congress! @BJP4Rajasthan @BJP4India,” he wrote.

The BJP had said on Thursday that the Congress’ claim of surgical strikes during its 10-year tenure under former prime minister Manmohan Singh was “fraudulent and farcical”, alleging that the grand old party was “guilty” of not allowing the punitive action against terrorists.

The BJP’s leader Arun Jaitley also took a jibe at the opposition party, saying its surgical strikes were “invisible and unknown”.

“It is a farcical and fraudulent claim. We have the greatest of respect for our armed forces. Our forces were capable of carrying out surgical strikes across the LoC, inside Pakistan, but they were not allowed to do so when the UPA was in power,” BJP national spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao had said.