Row over PM Modi's 'security breach' to defame Cong govt: Kharge

Rajya Sabha’s Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday said the Congress government in Punjab cannot be blamed for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s motorcade getting stuck on the road.

"The entire episode of ‘security breach’ in Modi’s motorcade was nothing but “politics of polarisation, blame game and an attempt to defame the Channi-led Congress government in Punjab,” Kharge said.

Addressing a press conference, Kharge said it was Modi who did not stick to his itinerary, deciding to take the road instead of a helicopter.

Also read: MHA forms committee to probe into PM Modi's security breach in Punjab

“The minute-to-minute programme of the PM was shared with the Punjab government. Modi did not follow this. He was to address a massive public meeting at Ferozepur. He was to go there via helicopter to the venue even though the state government had told him that the weather isn’t good,” Kharge said.

“Suddenly, the man who had to go by helicopter changed the plan saying the weather wasn’t good, which was informed earlier itself. He went by road,” he said.

According to Kharge, the BJP expected 70,000 people at the Ferozepur event. “But, there were hardly 700-800 people. To avoid embarrassment, the PM chose to blame the state government,” he said.

Kharge pointed out that the Punjab government has formed a committee to probe the security lapse. “If there’s any lapse on the part of the state government, then there will be punishment,” he said. “The incident itself is unfortunate and we shouldn’t make too much politics out of it.”

Learn from the past, says HDD

JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda said on Thursday that the controversy on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s security is “very unfortunate”. In a tweet, the former prime minister said: "At no point should we be complacent when it comes to protecting the highest executive office of India. We should learn from the past."

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