New Delhi, February 21: Lieutenant General (Retd.) Deependra Singh Hooda, will lead the task force on national security set up by Congress chief Rahul Gandhi. Lt. Gen was the architect of the Surgical Strikes of 2016 after the Uri Attack. The ex-army officer will prepare a vision paper for the country in consultation with a select group of experts. The Congress on Thursday tweeted, “Congress President Rahul Gandhi met with Lt Gen DS Hooda (retd) to institute a task force on National Security which will prepare a vision paper for the country. Gen Hooda will lead the task force and work with a select group of experts.”

Lt Gen (R) Hooda met Rahul Gandhi today:

However, the retired army officer said that he had not joined the Congress party. Last year in December, Lt. Gen. (R) Hooda hit out at the central government for over-hyping the Surgical Strikes. He had said, “I do think there was too much hype over it. The military operation was important, and we had to do it. Now how much should it have been politicised, whether it is right or wrong is something that should be asked to politicians."

Meanwhile, earlier in the day, the Congress launched a scathing attack against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that the PM was busy shooting for a film in the Jim Corbett National Park during the time of the Pulwama Attack. Local media reports alleged that PM Modi was working with the Discovery team at the time when Indian personnel were attacked in the fidayeen strike. Their claim, however, has not been officially confirmed.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 21, 2019 08:29 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).