Rahul Gandhi, Revanth Reddy undermining morale of armed forces: BJP

Telangana BJP president and Union Minister of Coal and Mines G. Kishan Reddy on Friday said Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and his leader Rahul Gandhi are undermining the ‘morale’ of the armed forces by questioning their success and spreading ‘falsehoods’ on ‘Operation Sindoor’.

Addressing a press conference at his residence in New Delhi, Mr. Reddy claimed that the while the entire nation stood united, the Congress leaders are raising questions on how many Rafale fighter aircraft were shot down during the conflict ‘instead of saluting the soldiers’.

”Mr. Revanth Reddy has been copying Mr. Gandhi in turning national security into a political mockery. Such petty politics is a risk to India’s diplomatic gains and national interests,” he said.

From surgical strikes to air strikes to Operation Sindoor, Prime Minister Modi has shown firm resolve unlike any Congress regime. Under the UPA regime when terror went unchecked, the armed forces are now empowered to retaliate, maintained the BJP leader.

He advised the Opposition party to stop ‘complaining’ about India’s victories as the Modi government was not seeking any ‘applause’. The Chief Minister met Mr. Gandhi in Delhi before criticising the Centre and stated that the then Congress government had released 93,000 Pakistani POWs (prisoners of war) after the 1971 war and never reclaimed PoK (Pak occupied Kashmir).

The Congress has been ‘collapsing’ electorally, losing State after State due to its ‘negative narrative’. Both the Congress and BRS are family-run businesses — focused on self-preservation, not public welfare, he said. “The BRS is a private company with zero credibility so there is no question of merger as it neither has relevance nor any future,” he added.

Rajya Sabha MP and national BJP morcha president K. Laxman and legislature party leader A. Maheshwar Reddy also condemned the CM’s remarks criticising the Centre on the recent armed forces operations in a statement.

In a separate press conference Medak MP M. Raghunandan Rao has demanded the government to act against ‘paid’ social media posts indulging in scurrilous writings against political opponents as was mentioned by BRS MLC K. Kavitha during her interaction with the media.

He also dismissed the talk of BRS merger with the BJP stating that the former not only lost the Assembly polls but did not win a single seat in the Parliament elections plus did not bother to participate in the MLC polls. People have given VRS to BRS once it changed from TRS, he said and added that it is the BJP which has been gaining at the expense of a listless Congress.

The Centre has been generously sanctioning funds and projects for highways, railways and others to Telangana but the Congress government has been unable to release matching grants leading to delays. About ₹260 crore was sanctioned for drinking water in his constituency, he said.

Published - May 30, 2025 10:05 pm IST