Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday wondered why Prime Minister Narendra Modi had not ordered any inquiry to find out how a journalist got prior information about India’s air strike in Pakistan’s Balakot.

In a reference to the leaked WhatsApp conversation of Republic TV promoter Arnab Goswami, he said that only the Prime Minister, the Home Minister, the Defence Minister, the National Security Adviser and the Forward Defence General knew of the mission. Even the pilots who were tasked with the operation did not know it until the launch. The journalist knew the information three days before the strike. The Official Secrets Act had been breached by one of the five persons, he said.

“My question is simple. Why is that there is no inquiry to find out who leaked the information. If it is not the Prime Minister, why has he not ordered an inquiry into the treason that has taken place. One of these five people has put the Indian Air Force and the nation at risk. I want to find out who is that? The Prime Minister should have found out who is that. Why he has not done it? The only reason he has not done it is that he himself is involved in leaking the secret information,” Mr. Gandhi told reporters at Aravakurichi during his campaign in Karur district.

Mr. Gandhi said the Congress would accept DMK president M.K. Stalin as the chief ministerial candidate.

The Congress-DMK alliance would not allow the RSS ideology to take root in Tamil Nadu, he said.

Addressing a series of roadside meetings in Karur district, Mr. Gandhi, who was on a three-day visit to the State in the run-up to the Assembly election, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had been “remote-controlling” the AIADMK government, which had been facing a number of corruption charges. Mr. Modi had been using the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate as a tool to destabilise the governments in the Opposition-ruled States, but not in Tamil Nadu.

“What is the Chief Minister giving in exchange for the favour? If Mr. Modi feels that he has a remote control, the people of the State will remove the battery from his remote and throw the AIADMK government out in the ensuing election,” he said.

The next government, he said, would work for the welfare of farmers, weavers, fishermen, labourers and traders.

Listening to the grievances of farmers at Vangal, near here, the Congress MP said that despite the spirited agitation by farmers in New Delhi, the Central government had failed to listen to their genuine grievances against the new farm laws. The laws would throw the farmers out of agriculture. The Centre’s indifferent attitude would break the backbone of the Indian economy and benefit only a few corporates.