New Delhi [India], April 29 : Congress MP Jairam Ramesh on Monday questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's absence from the all-party meeting to address the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, stating that while the Prime Minister had time to campaign for the upcoming Bihar election, he did not attend any joint political discussions on the attack.
Referring to the Congress's social media post allegedly labelling PM Modi as "Gayab" during the time to take "responsibility", Ramesh said, "PM Modi was not present at the all-party meeting. We demanded on 22nd April that the all-party meeting should be held on this issue. PM did come back, but he went to Bihar to campaign for the election. He has time to address the election campaign but not the all-party meeting."
He further called for PM Modi's participation in a discussion in Parliament following the party's call for a special session to address the terror attack that claimed 26 lives.
"PM Modi should participate in the discussions in Parliament and tell us what happened and how this terrorist attack took place. There is no political agenda. The Congress has only one formula now on the matter, which is unity," the Congress MP said.
Ramesh highlighted that the call for the special session came after a discussion with several opposition leaders and noted that this was the time to unite.
"We had a discussion with several Opposition leaders after which the Congress President and Lok Sabha LoP wrote letters to PM Modi last night to convene a special session of both Houses of the Parliament to have a discussion on the Pahalgam terrorist attack," he said.
"This is the time to unite and to show the world that we are united. We hope that PM Modi will accept this request and he will be present in the sessions of the Parliament," Ramesh added.
Earlier on Monday, Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging the government to convene a special session of both Houses of Parliament following the April 22 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam.
The attack in Pahalgam is one of the deadliest attacks in the Valley since the 2019 Pulwama strike, in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed. Following the Pahalgam terror attack, India has taken strong measures against Pakistan for its support of cross-border terrorism.