Opposition questioning valour of armed forces: Rajnath Singh

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh Sunday accused some opposition parties of questioning the valour of the armed forces in the wake of the IAF air strike inside Pakistan after Pulwama terror attack. 

"The irony is that there are some political parties in the country which are more worried about the surgical strike than Pakistan," he said at an event organised in his parliamentary constituency of Lucknow.

"They are even asking how may persons were killed in the air strike," added Singh, who was on his first visit to the Uttar Pradesh capital after being re-nominated as the BJP candidate for the Lok Sabha polls.

"Rival political parties are raising questions on the courage and valour of our armed forces," he said further.

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Upon his arrival earlier in the day, the Home Minister said that he had taken several steps to transform Lucknow into a world-class city.

"Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee wanted to make Lucknow a beautiful, world-class city," Singh said.

In the last five years, as the Lok Sabha MP, I have taken steps to move forward in that direction, he added

BJP launched the party's massive poll campaign called the Vijay Sankalp Sabha after the Lok Sabha election schedule was announced. The party will hold 500 events including nine rallies held by 13 ministers conducted by 48 hours across 480 seats. Follow LIVE updates here.

The rally aims to counter the Congress' stance which has questioned the Indian air-strikes at terror camps in Balakot and their regions across the LoC.

The party began with a rally in Sahranpur in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday.

Asserting that national security plank will figure high on the party's 'Vijay Sankalp' (Pledge for Victory) rallies planned for Sunday and Tuesday, senior party leader Mulkhtar Abbas Naqvi said the BJP will launch "ground strike" against "abusers of security forces".

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Top party leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have been accusing the opposition of lowering the morale of armed forces with its comments following the Balakot air strikes by the Indian Air Force.

Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Sushma Swaraj, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Piyush Goyal, JP Nadda, Dharmendra Pradhan, Nirmala Sitharaman, Smriti Irani and other party leaders are scheduled to address rallies on Sunday and Tuesday, Naqvi said.

(With PTI inputs)