Explain how China widened road in Doklam: Rahul asks Modi

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday and asked him to explain how China managed to widen its existing motorable road in Doklam despite the heavy Indian Army presence there.

Gandhi's comment comes a day after sources said China maintained a sizeable presence of troops near the site of the Dokalam standoff with India and had started widening a road, around 12 km from the area of conflict.

"Modiji, once you're done thumping your chest, could you please explain this?" Gandhi tweeted, tagging a news report headlined, "With 500 Soldiers On Guard, China Expands Road In Doklam". Gandhi tweeted the same message, not once but twice, in both English and Hindi.

Troops of India and China were locked in a 73-day standoff in Dokalam that began from June 16 over road construction activity at the India-Bhutan-China trijunction.

The tension eased after talks between top officials of both the countries. On Thursday, army sources confirmed that the PLA was constructing a road in Chumbi valley but added that the area was under Chinese control and the development did not have strategic implications for India. Around 500 soldiers are present in the area where the road construction is being carried out.

China is reinforcing its claim on the Doklam territory (India backs Bhutan's claim on it) by upgrading the road around 10-km north and east of the earlier face-off site.

PTI