PM Modi's assertions about nuclear missiles has cost India a place in NSG: Anand Sharma

Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's bragging about nuclear missiles has cost India a place in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

Speaking to mediapersons in Jodhpur on Wednesday, Sharma said "No nuclear power ever talked about their count of nuclear missiles or any of state head has ever said they were ready to attack with nuclear missiles. But our prime minister said so."

He said Modi had warned that 18 nuclear missiles had been kept ready when Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was in Pakistan's captivity.

The former cabinet minister appealed to Modi to be sincere in his language and not give the impression that the Indian prime minister was talking in the same vein as North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.

Sharma said India did not become a member of NSG in Modi's rule and his statements would close the door for the future.

He questioned Modi's foreign policy. "Modi visits the Chinese president and then receives Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Likewise, he visits Kabul in Afghanistan, which has been ravaged by Taliban supported by Pakistan and then directly lands in Lahore to see Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif," he said.

Sharma accused Modi of disturbing relations with Nepal, with which India has had cordial relations for years.