PM Modi raising Katchatheevu issue during poll campaign was ‘highly irresponsible’, says Congress | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Monday launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for politicising the ‘Katchatheevu’ issue during the Lok Sabha election Lok Sabha campaign and accused him and the Bharatiya Janata Party of threatening to derail India’s relation with Sri Lanka.
Taking to X, the Congress leader said, “Remember the Katchateevu issue that was ‘manufactured’ by the ‘one-third prime minister’ during the election campaign and taken up by his colleagues to gather support for the BJP in Tamil Nadu.This was highly irresponsible and a severe distortion of history.”

This comes a day after Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe attended the swearing-in ceremony of PM Modi and his council of ministers.
“It threatened to derail our relationship with Sri Lanka. The people of Tamil Nadu gave a befitting reply,” he added.
“The concerns of Tamil Nadu’s fishing communities do need to be resolved amicably on a permanent basis. But will Mr. Modi and his colleagues apologise for having created this huge scare with our neighbour especially when he boasts of a Neighbourhood First policy?” He asked.
During the election campaign, PM Modi accused the Congress party and the DMK for giving away the Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka during the tenure of the Indira Gandhi government in 1974. PM Modi said that the Katchatheevu deal has infuriated people, adding that the Congress can never be trusted.
Hitting back at the BJP over the issue, opposition leaders back then had cited a 2015 RTI reply that stated the agreements in 1974 and 1976 did not involve either acquiring or ceding of territory belonging to India and asked if the “change” in the Modi government’s stance was for “election politics”.