BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla pointed out “fake news” spread by his estranged brother and said for him “nation is first.”
Poonawalla’s brother Tehseen, who is known to be a Congress supporter, claimed ISRO scientists have not been paid salaries for three months. A PIB fact-check said he was wrong.
Shehzad Poonawalla also said his brother should apologize to ISRO and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
However, Tehseen responded with a clarification and said engineers working on the Chandrayaan-3 launch pad were not paid for several months. He also shared screenshots of media reports with similar claims.
“The context of my talk was non-payment of salaries for professionals,” he wrote in a social media post. “It was not scientists but engineers ... does that change the context?” he asked.