Cong leader alleges "match fixing" between Modi and Imran Khan on Pulwama attack

Bengaluru: Sparking a major row, senior Congress leader B K Hariprasad Thursday alleged there was a "match fixing" between prime minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan on the Pulwama terror attack.

"There is a match fixing between Narendra Modi and Imran Khan, or else this Pulwama incident would not have taken place," Prasad, a Rajya Sabha member, told reporters here.

BJP in Karnataka sharply reacted to Hariprasad's charge, calling it irresponsible and saying he should be ashamed of making such statements.

Hariprasad's comments came while reacting to union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad's attack on Congress president Rahul Gandhi on the "stolen" Rafale papers.

Earlier in the day, Gandhi asked why a probe cannot be ordered against Modi for a "Rs 30,000-crore scam" when an investigation has been initiated into the theft of official documents related to the fighter jet deal.

Hitting back, Prasad said: "I totally condemn blatant lies of Rahul Gandhi. He does not believe the Indian Air Force, does not trust the Supreme Court verdict that clearly said there is no commercial impropriety in the (Rafale) procurement process. He does not believe the CAG."

Coming down on the union government, Hariprasad sought to know how the huge cache of RDX went undetected when the government agencies could find beef at different places.

"People who talk about the security of the nation, they can detect two kg of beef from Akhlaq's house, they can detect two kg of beef in Kerala guest house, they can't detect 350 kg of RDX on the national highway. It's a shame on them," he said.

BJP state general secretary and MLC N Ravikumar slammed Hariprasad for his remarks.

"This is a highly condemnable, irresponsible statement. He should be ashamed of making such statements. Where had he mortgaged his brain before making such a statement," he said.

He blamed the Congress for terrorism in the country.

Forty CRPF jawans were killed in a suicide attack carried on their convoy in Jammu and Kashmir on February 14, for which Pakistan based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed had claimed responsibility.

Indian Air Force had carried out pre-emptive strikes on the training camps of terrorists inside the Pakistan soil.

The attack had escalated tension between Pakistan and India.

Hariprasad is not new to controversies. Earlier in January, he had mocked BJP national president Amit Shah's illness when the latter was admitted to the AIIMS for contracting H1N1.

Addressing a meeting here, Prasad had said in Kannada that Amit Shah got the 'swine flu' because he tried to destabilise the Congress-JDS coalition government in Karnataka.