Government didn't leak surgical strike footage: Parrikar
Panaji, June 28: Former Defence Minister and Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Thursday said the media should not probe how sensitive footage of the 2016 surgical strikes was accessed and broadcast on national television, and insisted the Defence Ministry did not leak the footage with an eye on the upcoming general elections.
"I don't think government has released it. Somehow, some people may have managed to get a small bite of it. So that's all. Let it be shown. Why are you going into the issues of how it has come, why it has come? Some people asked me about elections... Elections are quite far...," Parrikar told reporters at the state Secretariat.
"Like you (journalists) get the scoop, the media must have managed to get the scoop from somewhere. It is there," the former Defence Minister said. He, however, refused to certify the leaked footage of the 2016 surgical strikes, which was broadcast on national news channels on Wednesday.
"I have not certified the video, I am only certifying that the surgical strikes took place," Parrikar said.
The Chief Minister said there was no indication that the Defence Ministry had released the footage to the media.
"I am not aware if it is released by the Defence Ministry. As far as I am concerned, I do not see any indication that it is released by the Ministry. Some channels started showing it yesterday (Wednesday)," Parrikar said.
He also said that Pakistan never really questioned the strikes because of the neighbouring country's strategic limitations.
"Pakistan actually never questioned. Pakistan did not comment on our claim on surgical strikes. Either they have to accept it... If they accept it, they have to retaliate against it. So they have their own limitations. Our opposition (parties), some, not all, doubted. This (the footage) is adequate proof for that," Parrikar said.
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Palaniswami will meet same fate of Bihar CM, says Stalin
Madurai (PTI): Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Saturday claimed that AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami would meet the same fate as Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, at the hands of the BJP.
Only till 2026 TN Assembly polls, Palaniswami will be AIADMK chief, and later the BJP would "ease him out of office," Stalin alleged and slammed Palaniswami as an epitome of "betrayal".
"The BJP will dislodge Palaniswami from the top AIADMK post of general secretary, and bring a leader of its choice to that position," he said after welcoming scores of O Panneerselvam's supporters into the DMK in a rally organised in Madurai.
The expelled AIADMK leader had joined the DMK along with his former MP son O Ravindranath, in the presence of Stalin on February 27 in Chennai.
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