UPA Carried Out Three Surgical Strikes, Never Went Public: Shinde

Mumbai: Former Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Saturday said three surgical strikes were carried out between 2009-2013 but the UPA government never made it public.

"The Congress-led UPA regime never made the strikes public. However, the Narendra Modi government capitalised on the army operation. The BJP government only makes huge promises to mislead the people," Shinde said after launching the party's poll campaign for 25 Zilla Parishads in Osmanabad district.

The Zilla Parishad elections will be held in two phases on February 16 and 21 in Maharashtra.

He claimed that demonetisation has hurt farmers the most.

"Black money hoarders benefitted due to notes ban. The government has not been able to give details as to how much black money has been unearthed so far after demonetisation," he charged.

"The prime minister misled the people on the issue of demonetisation. It was the UPA government which made sincere efforts to bring back black money stashed abroad," Shinde claimed.

State Congress chief Ashok Chavan said the Zilla Parishad polls will be a referendum on the state government's performance of two years.

"The Fadnavis government has not fulfilled the expectations of the people," he said.

Referring to demonetisation, Chavan claimed that it was a surgical strike on common man.

Chavan described the war of words between the Shiv Sena- BJP as a political drama ahead of municipal corporation polls in the state.

He said both parties are the two sides of the same coin and appealed to people not to fall prey to the political drama that is being played out.

Former Punjab Governor Shivraj Patil said Congress was instrumental in empowering local bodies. Osmanabad and Latur Zilla Parishads controlled by Congress are efficient and there has never been any complaint about their functioning.

Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil said farmers have been adversely affected in the last two years, "After successive droughts, there was good rain last year. But the government announced demonetisation due to which farmers faced difficulties in getting price for their produce," he said.