Priyanka Gandhi Vadra calls off press meet after Pulwama attack

New Delhi: Expressing grief at the terror attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir in which 44 personnel were killed, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday called off her first press conference in Lucknow post her formal induction in the party, after offering a two-minute silence.

Later in a press statement, Ms Vadra said that government should take concrete steps to ensure such terror attacks do not happen in the future.

The much awaited press meet which had been convened after the end of her four-day long visit to the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, was called off by Ms Vadra, who said that it won’t be appropriate to have a political discourse in the aftermath of a terror attack of such intensity.

“This conference was called for political discussions. But when our jawans have been killed in a terror attack in Pulwama, I feel it would not be right if we have political discussions at this time,” she told reporters at the press conference venue. I want to tell their families that every single countryman is with them in their hour of grief,” she said.

“They should have faith... We are standing by them,” she added.

A two-minute silence was also observed as a mark of grief. The Congress leader has held a series of discussions with party workers over the past four days, with at least one session lasting through the night.

The Congress general secretary later in a statement while condoling the death of the CRPF personnel, demanded that the government take concrete steps to ensure such terror attacks do not happen in the future.

The AICC general secretary in-charge Uttar Pradesh East also said there is a need to reflect and be concerned about the “high number” of casualties in Kashmir.

“I can very well understand the pain and grief of losing a loved one in the family,” Ms Vadra said in a statement.

Not only the Congress party, but the entire country is standing shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave soldiers, she said.

“But, we must also reflect and be concerned about the high number of casualties in Kashmir. We demand that this government take concrete steps to ensure such terror attacks don’t happen in the future,” the Congress leader  said.

At least 44 CRPF personnel were killed in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Thursday when a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the bus they were travelling in, one of the worst terror strikes in the state in recent years, officials said.

More than 2,500 Central Reserve Police Force personnel, many of them returning from leave to rejoin duty in the Valley, were travelling in the convoy of 78 vehicles when they were ambushed on the Srinagar-Jammu highway at Latoomode in Awantipora.