New Delhi [India], May 18 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Shehzad Poonawalla on Sunday lashed out at Lok Sabha LoP and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi over his tweet targeting External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, accusing him of spreading fake news.

'Rahul Gandhi and Congress are factories of fake news... This is not the first time Congress is spreading such a lie, which can be misused by Pakistan. Rahul Gandhi had spread lies about surgical strikes, Balakot airstrike and the Pulwama incident,' Poonawalla said.

Poonawalla also said that Gandhi's statements on Article 370 had ended up in Pakistan's dossier, and alleged that Congress had begged Pakistan for help in removing the Modi government. 'Mani Shankar Aiyar went to Pakistan at Sonia Gandhi's behest and asked them to help remove Modi,' he alleged.

The BJP leader further criticised Gandhi for promoting Pakistan's narrative. 'Today, when the entire world has exposed Pakistan, when there is clear evidence of how Pakistan has harbored terrorists, the world accepts that it was India who struck their camps and bases in such a way that Pakistan was forced to plead and call India's DGMO and, in a way, fold hands, Rahul Gandhi is still trying to promote Pakistan's narrative,' he said.

Poonawalla emphasised that Jaishankar's statement aligned with the DGMO's statement. 'EAM Jaishankar's statement aligns with the statement of DGMO (Director General of Military Operations), so is Rahul Gandhi levelling such baseless allegations against DGMO?' Poonawalla asked.

'He (Rahul Gandhi) continues to spread lies that have already been fact-checked and debunked by PIB and the Ministry of External Affairs. If you see, even Amit Malviya tweeted how what Jaishankar said is aligned with the DGMO's statement. There is a part of Congress that still speaks like that of Pakistan's DG ISPR.'

Adding that Gandhi's actions demoralised the Indian Army, the BJP leader said, 'Rahul Gandhi must realise that the Indian government's stance has been clear -- that India's assets were not harmed. Yet, Rahul Gandhi makes such unfounded allegations just to be quoted by Pakistani media, and the Congress party continuously demoralises the Indian Army with such actions.'

Earlier, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had alleged that the government 'informed Pakistan' ahead of Operation Sindoor.

Rahul Gandhi posted a video on X, in which Jaishankar was seen speaking to mediapersons on Thursday following the inauguration of the Honduras Embassy in Delhi.

In his X post, Gandhi alleged wrongdoing by the government, stating: 'Informing Pakistan at the start of our attack was a crime. EAM has publicly admitted that the GOI did it. Who authorised it? How many aircraft did our air force lose as a result?'

Callling it 'utter misrepresentation of facts,' the Ministry of External Affairs strongly rebutted Congress MP Rahul Gandhi accusations against EAM S Jaishankar that the government 'informed Pakistan' ahead of Operation Sindoor on Saturday.

Refuting the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha's charge, the MEA said that EAM had stated that the government warned Pakistan at 'the early phase after Operation Sindoor's commencement' and not before it.'

EAM had stated that we had warned Pakistan at the start, which is clearly the early phase after Op Sindoor's commencement. This is being falsely represented as being before the commencement. This utter misrepresentation of facts is being called out,' the external publicity (XP) division of the MEA said in a statement.

India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 in response to the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam that left 26 civilians dead. As part of the operation, Indian Armed Forces targeted terror infrastructure deep inside Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, eliminating over 100 terrorists linked to Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Hizbul Mujahideen.

Following the strikes, Pakistan retaliated with cross-border shelling and attempted drone attacks. In response, India launched coordinated airstrikes that damaged key military infrastructure across 11 Pakistani airbases. On May 10, both sides announced an understanding on the cessation of hostilities. (ANI)