Amid preparations for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the ISRO headquarters in Bengaluru to honor the scientists behind the successful Chandrayaan-3 mission, the Congress party has made a claim that the PM barred Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah from receiving him at the airport. The Congress asserts that the alleged move is a result of the PM’s “irritation” over not being the first to felicitate the scientists, as Karnataka’s chief and deputy chief ministers from the Congress party already did so.
Scheduled to directly land in Bengaluru on Saturday morning at 6 am after a two-nation tour, PM Modi’s visit is aimed at congratulating ISRO on the monumental achievement of the Chandrayaan-3 mission. The mission marked India’s successful soft landing on the Moon, making it the fourth country globally to achieve this feat. Notably, India is also the first nation to reach the Moon’s South Pole, the mission’s intended destination.
Jairam Ramesh, the head of the Congress party’s communications department, highlighted the alleged incident on social media, stating, “He (PM Modi) is apparently so irritated with the CM and Deputy CM of Karnataka for felicitating the scientists of ISRO before him, that he has purportedly barred the CM from receiving him at the airport, going against protocol.”
Ramesh further recalled a previous instance during Narendra Modi’s tenure as the Chief Minister of Gujarat, where he visited the Space Applications Centre in Ahmedabad shortly after the successful launch of Chandrayaan-I in 2008 when Dr. Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister. The party framed this claim as a counter to the present situation.
The Congress party criticized the PM’s alleged stance as “petulant petty politics” and emphasized that the chief and deputy chief ministers of Karnataka were merely fulfilling their duties and expressing appreciation for the historic achievement by ISRO.
After ISRO’s triumphant Chandrayaan-3 mission, both Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah visited ISRO headquarters to congratulate the team on their remarkable feat. Meanwhile, PM Modi virtually joined the mission’s landing, as he was away in South Africa for the BRICS summit.
As the political rhetoric unfolds, all eyes are on PM Modi’s impending visit to the ISRO headquarters, where he is expected to acknowledge the achievements of India’s scientific community and reflect on the significance of Chandrayaan-3’s success.
Sources By Agencies
