'Rahul is correct, Chinese aggression cannot be ignored', cautions NCP chief

At a public gathering in Pune on February 21, NCP chief Sharad Pawar agreed with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's claims of increased Chinese aggression at the Indo-China border in Eastern Ladakh.

Pawar said,' China has stationed more troops on their side, and they have also made good infrastructure like roads, lights, water, etc. Be it Rahul or any other opposition leader, they have repeatedly raised this issue and we continue to raise it even today.'

The leader added that he agrees that China has not transgressed into the Indian side however he said that the increased infrastructural development on the Chinese side should not be ignored by India.

Pawar's statement came a day after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar retorted at the Congress leader's repeated aim at the government over China's aggression and said that PM Modi sent the army to the LAC, not Rahul Gandhi.

'I ask people if we were being accommodative who sent the Indian Army to the LAC (Line of Actual Control). Rahul Gandhi did not send them. Narendra Modi sent them. We have today the largest peacetime deployment in our history on the China border.

We are keeping troops there at a huge cost with great effort. We have increased our infrastructure spending on the border five times in this government. Now tell me who is the defensive and accommodative person? Who is actually telling the truth? Who is depicting things accurately? Who is playing footsie with history?' added Jaishankar in an interview to ANI.

Rahul Gandhi had claimed last month that according to a Ladakh delegation 2000 square km of Indian Territory was taken by the Chinese.

'Government is under the impression that the Chinese have not taken any land from India. They also said that many patrolling points that used to be in India are now firmly in Chinese hands,' the MP had said.

(with ANI inputs)