"Baseless...": Jairam Ramesh attacks PM Modi, EAM Jaishankar over Katchatheevu row
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday called Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement on Katchatheevu island "baseless," and said that the External Affairs Minister is trying to make it an "agenda" for their Lok Sabha campaign.
ANI
Apr 10, 2024 22:52 IST
New Delhi [India], April 10 (ANI): Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday called Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement on Katchatheevu island "baseless," and said that the External Affairs Minister is trying to make it an "agenda" for their Lok Sabha campaign.
Speaking to ANI, the Congress leader said that the BJP will fail to get even one seat in Tamil Nadu.
"That is not a topic for the Tamil Nadu elections. Our PM and External Affairs Minister are trying to make it a topic. Everything they are saying is baseless...Unemployment, inflation and the attack on our Constitution are real issues and they do not talk about it. They know that they will be getting zero seats in Tamil Nadu," Jairam Ramesh said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier targeted the Congress and the DMK for the Katchatheevu island issue, asserting that the parties tried to keep the people in the dark for many years.
The decades-old territorial and fishing rights dispute around Katchatheevu Island is in the limelight ahead of the general elections, with the BJP and the opposition engaged in a war of words over the issue.
The island, located between Rameswaram in India and Sri Lanka, is traditionally used by both Sri Lankan and Indian fishermen. In 1974, the then central government accepted Katchatheevu as Sri Lankan territory under the "Indo-Sri Lankan Maritime Agreement."
Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi targeted the Congress party and DMK over the Katchatheevu island issue. He said that Congress "callously" gave away the island. He further alleged the ruling party of Tamil Nadu did "nothing" to safeguard the state's interests.
All 39 seats of Tamil Nadu will poll in the first phase of the general elections on April 19 and the counting of votes, along with those from other phases, has been scheduled for June 4.
In 2019, the DMK swept the Lok Sabha polls in the state, winning 23 Lok Sabha seats and bagging the lion's share of the total votes polled, at 33.2 per cent. Its ruling ally, Congress, bagged 8 seats, mining 12.9 per cent of the total votes polled, while the CPI won two seats. CPI (M) and IUML won one seat each while the remaining two seats went to Independents.
The elections to 543 Lok Sabha seats in the country will be held in seven phases, starting April 19. Nearly 97 crore voters are eligible to get their fingers inked this time. (ANI)
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