PM Modi’s ‘Cloud Cover’ Remarks Painfully Embarrassing: Mehbooba

“Cloud cover logic is painfully embarrassing. Remind me again, why is Rahul Gandhi derided as ‘Pappu’?” Mufti said.

PM Narendra Modi (left); Mehbooba Mufti (right)

(Photo: Reuters and PTI)

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday, 12 May, described Prime Minister Narendra Modi's reported remarks about clouds helping the Indian Air Force jets escape Pakistani radars during Balakot airstrikes as "painfully embarrassing".

Mehbooba said she wondered whether the prime minister authorising the operation in bad weather by overruling the advice of the IAF led to the strikes “failing” to hit the intended target.

"No secret that Balakot strikes failed to hit the intended target. Was it because PM Modi overruled the advice of IAF and authorised airstrikes in bad weather?" Mehbooba said in a tweet.

"Cloud cover logic is painfully embarrassing. Remind me again, why is RG (Congress president Rahul Gandhi) derided as ‘Pappu’?" she added.

The Peoples Democratic Party president also said that the Bharatiya Janata Party's ability to "suspend logic" in its quest to win another term is "mind-numbingly fatuous", adding that the armed forces do not deserve this.

“I was raked over the coals for questioning veracity of Balakot strikes. But seeing Pakistani media and journalists troll PM Modi on the cloud gaffe is awfully embarrassing,” Mehbooba added.

National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah also took a sarcastic dig at Modi over the comments.

"Pakistani radar doesn't penetrate clouds. This is an important piece of tactical information that will be critical when planning future air strikes," he tweeted.

(Published in arrangement with PTI)