Naidu questions Cong's silence on Chidambaram's comments

At an event in Hyderabad two days ago, Chidambaram, to a question about Jammu and Kashmir, had said the situation there was grim, and a series of mistakes were made which are "almost too late".

Hyderabad, Feb 26: Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday questioned Congress' silence over the recent comments of P Chidambaram on Jammu and Kashmir and Army chief Bipin Rawat and asked the party to clear its stand over the matter.

"It's over twenty four hours now. I'm surprised that the Congress has not responded on Chidambaram's comments. Why is the Congress silent on such as anti-national statements by one of its senior leaders. Let the Congress respond to this," Naidu told reporters here.

"Once again, I'm demanding that the Congress must come clean. Make its stand very clear whether they are in agreement with Chidambaram's statement, whether they are in agreement with other Congress leaders' statements of criticising the Army chief," he said.

At an event in Hyderabad two days ago, Chidambaram, to a question about Jammu and Kashmir, had said the situation there was grim, and a series of mistakes were made which are "almost too late" to correct now. He had also criticised the recent controversial comments of the Army Chief.

"General Rawat said anyone interfering with security operations will be treated as anti-national. That's, I think, thoughtless, intemperate words," the former Finance Minister had said. Chidambaram had also said, "Now, the graph (killings in Kashmir) has started rising rapidly. In 2017, the graph is rising at an alarming rate. Even yesterday, people were killed. Unless we put a stop to this course of action, reverse course (of action), go back to talking to the people, go back engaging the people, I think Jammu and Kashmir maybe nearly lost. I don't want to say lost, it is nearly lost".

PTI