Parrikar slams Congress for 'doubting' surgical strikes
Panaji, July 16 : Slamming the opposition for spreading scepticism and negativity, former Defence Minister and Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Monday asked if the Congress would have believed in the surgical strikes if the Army had taken its President Rahul Gandhi along on the mission.
"I am not speaking about the surgical strikes in a political manner. What do the opposition parties claim? That they (strikes) were not carried out. Look at the negativity. Should I have taken you (opposition) along? I should have told the army to take Rahul Gandhi along and carry out the surgical strikes?" Parrikar told a meeting of party workers here as part of the preparations for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
"The most important thing about surgical strikes is the secrecy. Only four of us knew. The Prime Minister, me, Army chief and the Director General of Military Operations. Four of us in Delhi and core commander and army commander in Srinagar and those who executed it.
"We had to prepare for it early on, because these things can't be done on the spot," the former Defence Minister said, urging the party workers to reach out to the people and create a positive atmosphere.
The Chief Minister also said that his mother's wisdom of preparing extensively for any eventuality was one of the factors which inspired him and his Defence Ministry to be fully prepared ahead of the actual strikes.
"My mother used to say, the press should not interpret it wrongly... When you go hunting for rabbits, you should be prepared for a tiger. So, when we were preparing for a surgical strike, we were in all readiness. But there was scepticism about that too," Parrikar said.
Parrikar was the Defence Minister when the two surgical strikes were conducted by the Indian armed forces on the country's eastern and western fronts.
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Section of TN hotels declare holiday citing shortage of LPG cylinders
Chennai, Mar 11 (PTI): A section of hotels and restaurants operating in Chennai and parts of Tamil Nadu on Wednesday declared a holiday following the lack of commercial LPG supply to the establishments, employees said.
Early morning customers who had come for tea and coffee expressed disappointment over the closure of the hotels and expressed hope that the Centre would take up measures to ease the situation.
"Due to lack of LPG supply, March 11, 2026 has been declared a holiday," a notice displayed in a popular hotel in the city said on Wednesday.
"If this is the case for commercial LPG, then it may impact the domestic LPG supply also. Already, the booking period for domestic gas has been extended from the existing 21 days to 25 days. We do not know what we will do," a resident who had come for a coffee said, after the hotel in Thiyagaraya Nagar declared a holiday.
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On March 10, the hotel association had voiced concern over sustaining their businesses as the existing stock of commercial LPG "would be sufficient to run the outlet only for one or two days".
Most of the restaurants have also cut the number of food items offered to customers and opted to prepare foods that require minimal usage of the commercial LPG cylinders.
"We have prepared idli, sambhar and vada. We have removed dosa varieties. In the afternoon and dinner, the menu will be variety rices only, since dosa and fried rice items require a continuous supply of LPG," a hotel owner in the famous East Coast Road said.
Representatives of Tamil Nadu Hotels Associations, a body representing the hotels and restaurants in the state, called on Chief Minister M K Stalin on March 10 and apprised him about the situation.
Following his interaction with the representatives, Stalin said he had requested the Union government to ensure that the shortage of commercial LPG does not affect the public, commercial establishments or MSMEs.
