Nation comes first: Yeddyurappa clarifies his statement on BJP's K'taka win

In a couple of tweets, Yeddyurappa said: "My statement is being reported out of context. I said that ‘situation favourable for BJP’ which i am saying for last couple of months. This is not first time that i said BJP in Karnataka will win minimum 22 seats under the able leadership of Modi ji."

"I would like to clarify that my yesterday’s statement has been completely misinterpreted. I have highest regard for our armed forces. I salute the bravery of our men in fighting for the country’s safety."

He said: "I stand along with my fellow countrymen and pray for the safe return of Commander Abhinandan Varthaman. To me, The Nation comes first and then the party. "

Yeddyurappa, who is the BJP's main leader in Karnataka, had said as quoted by NDTV, "The atmosphere....day-by-day the wind is increasingly blowing in favour of the BJP. Yesterday''s action of destroying terror hideouts by entering inside Pakistan has resulted in a pro-Modi wave in the country, the results of which can be seen in coming Lok Sabha polls."

"Just now we got news that a Pakistani jet which tried to enter our border has been chased back. Pakistan has been taught a lesson, after 40 years PM Modi has done it. PM said we'd reply to every drop of blood of our soldiers and he has shown that today. Youth are celebrating; all this will help us in winning more than 22 Lok Sabha seats (in Karnataka)," he had added. 

Yeddyurappa faces heat:

Union Minister Vijay Kumar Singh had said in a tweet, ".@BSYBJP ji, I beg to differ. We stand as one nation, action taken by our government is to safeguard our nation & ensure safety of our citizens, not to win a few extra seats."

Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy said: "The entire nation is united in supporting the central govt&our armed forces to fight terrorism,while #Bjp leader @BSYBJP is busy calculating howmany extra LS seats the terror attack&Pak war can bring to his party. It's shameful to exploit our jawans' sacrifice for electoral gains"

Not just the former Chief Minister, but also Prime Minister Narendra Modi received flak from the opposition parties for continuing with his political programmes.

Leaders like Mayawati, Omar Abdullah, Arvind Kejriwal have criticised the Prime Minister, who interacted with BJP workers on Thursday.

In reaction to the Pulwama terror attack, which had left over 40 Indian paramilitary personnel martyred, the Indian Air Force (IAF) conducted a surgical strike across the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

In the surgical strike, India claimed a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated.

A day after the surgical strike, Pakistan claimed that it has shot down two aircrafts of the IAF and captured a pilot.

The neighbouring nation also released a video and claimed that it is of an Indian pilot named Abhinandan, who will be released by Pakistan on Thursday.