Bengaluru, 1 July 

State Congress President BK Hariprasad on Wednesday questioned the reported meetings between BJP leader Ram Madhav and a retired Pakistani ISI Major General, alleging that the BJP and the RSS must explain the purpose of the interactions.

"We are mentioning Ram Madhav because he is the BJP's in-charge for the upcoming Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) elections in August,” Hariprasad told press. “What was the purpose of going to Colombo and talking to the ISI in the context of the GBA elections? Has the Ministry of External Affairs outsourced India's foreign policy to Ram Madhav? Has it been outsourced to the RSS?”

He claimed that Mahadev also met the retired ISI general in London just two months before Operation Sindoor. 

“(RSS head) Mohan Bhagwat said there's nothing wrong with holding talks with Pakistan. When I said something similar, they hounded me for two years,” Hariprasad charged on X. “These people went to Pakistan, ate biryani, and then left. They (Centre) said none of our soldiers died in Operation Sindhur. But the other day, (Union Defence Minister) Rajnath Singh paid tribute, saying six soldiers had died.”

Madhav has already rejected the allegation, saying that he was invited to speak at a dialogue after which he left.