Modi was busy shooting for film in Corbett, had 'chai, samosa' after Pulwama attack, says Congress

New Delhi, Feb 21: Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala broke the party's silence on the Pulwama attack on Thursday and said that PM Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah "have a bad reputation of politicising terror attacks".

Holding a press conference, Surjewala attacked Modi for not giving the issue its due importance. He also accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of politicising the issue.

Accusing the prime minister of being busy shooting a film in Jim Corbett national park, Randeep Surjewala said, "When the whole country was mourning the loss of lives of our jawans in Pulwama Attack in the afternoon, PM Narendra Modi was busy shooting for a film in Jim Corbett park till evening. Is there any PM in the world like this? I have no words really."

"PM Modi even gave a presser on the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, dissing the Congress. They were appealing for votes by politicising terror. When the soldiers were fighting terrorists, BJP were busy printing ads," he said.

Congress's statement comes after former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti questioned why the CRPF soldiers were allowed to travel in a convoy, to which the state's ex-top cop said that he had proposed to airlift soldiers to avoid Pulwama-like tragedy.

Shah, while addressing a public rally at Lakhimpur in Assam, had said that the sacrifices of the 40 CRPF personnel will not go in vain as there is a BJP government at the Centre now and it, unlike the previous Congress dispensation, will not "compromise" on any security issue.

Earlier in the day, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) took over the probe of the Pulwama terror attack and re-registered the case. The Ministry of Home Affairs on Tuesday, 19 February, had transferred the case to the NIA.

Also, New Zealand became the first country to pass a motion in its Parliament condemning the 14 February attack.

Meanwhile, France said it will move a proposal at the UN in a "couple of days" to ban Masood Azhar, chief of the Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad which claimed responsibility for the Pulwama attack that left 40 CRPF personnel dead.