Why does Imran want Modi to continue as India's PM, asks P Chidambaram

New Delhi, May 2: The Congress is happy that the process of designating JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist has concluded successfully, senior party leader P Chidambaram said on Thursday, while also asking why Pakistani premier Imran Khan wants Narendra Modi to continue as India's prime minister.

In a huge diplomatic victory for India, the United Nations (UN) Sanctions Committee designated Azhar as a global terrorist on Wednesday after China lifted its hold on a proposal to ban him. Reacting to the development, Chidambaram said Azhar was released in 1999 by a BJP government after the hijack of an Indian Airlines aircraft.

"After Masood Azhar masterminded the Mumbai terror attack in 2008, the process to name him as a global terrorist was started by a Congress/UPA government in 2009. "We are happy that the process has concluded successfully in 2019. But why does the Prime Minister of Pakistan want Mr Modi to continue as Prime Minister of India?," the former home minister said in a series of tweets.

Azhar's designation as a global terrorist by the UN came two days after the fourth round of the seven-phase Lok Sabha polls. The polling will conclude on May 19 and the votes will be counted on May 23. Last month, during an interaction with a small group of foreign journalists in Islamabad, the Pakistan prime minister had said he believed that there might be a better chance of peace talks with India and settling the Kashmir issue if Modi's party BJP won the general election.

Khan had also said other political parties would be afraid of a right-wing backlash in case of a settlement on the Kashmir issue. The Congress seized on Khan's comments to allege that Pakistan had "officially allied" with Modi. The opposition party also said a vote for Modi would mean a vote for the neighbouring country. Chidambaram claimed that after the fourth round of voting in the parliamentary polls, the Congress and its allies were ahead of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its NDA allies.

The BJP alone had lost more than one-third of its 2014 tally at this stage and would lose more seats in the next three phases, he claimed. The Congress and the other non-BJP parties had to give a final push and the Modi regime would topple over, the veteran leader said.

PTI