Shiv Sena leader and Rajya Sabha member Priyanka Chaturvedi on Monday charged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had — “without a thought to the chair he holds” — had made a serious accusation that late Indira Gandhi ‘ceded’ Katchatheevu island to score a political point and to divide the electorate by casting aspersions on the former Prime Minister.
In a statement put on micro-blogging site “X”, Priyanka said: “A sitting PM has made some serious allegations against India’s former PM Indira Gandhi of having ‘ceded’ Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka by quoting an RTI response. Without a thought to the chair he holds and the accusations he makes for political point scoring in the upcoming elections in the hope that they can win some seats in Tamil Nadu and with the intention to divide the electorate by casting aspersions”. “Let’s remember such decisions are taken by governments, which includes inputs and advice from professionals like diplomats, military officers, legal advisors and bureaucrats. To reduce them to one leader or one party is undemocratic, because a government is more than just one person,” Priyanka said.
“The way PM is raking the 1974 agreement to withdraw claim on this island publicly and trying to show earlier government down and question India's international agreement with a neighbour is not in good stead for India's neighbourhood security,” Priyanka said.