KARACHI: Mallikarjun Kharge, president of the Indian National Congress party, has said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s government had `misled the nation`, amid a furore about the now-acknowledged aircraft losses to Pakistan during the recent conflict, Dawn.com reported.

`The Modi govt has misled the nation. The fog of war is now clearing,` Kharge wrote in a post on X.

The remarks come a day after India`s top general confirmed that his country`s fighter jets were downed by Pakistan but did not specify a number.

That admission followed a statement by Subrahmanyam Swamy, a member of Modi`s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) but a staunch critic of the Indian premier, that Pakistan had downed five Indian planes.

He said that in the wake of the remarks made by India`s Chief ofDefence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan in Singapore during an interview, there were some very important questions which nee de d to be asked.

`These can only be asked if a Special Session of the Parliament is immediately convened,` he said.

`The Congress party demands a comprehensive review of defence preparedness by an independent expert committee, on the lines of the Kargil review committee,` he added.

Congress leader and Telangana Minister Uttam Reddy separately demanded transparency from the Indian government to reveal the extent of losses, Deccan Herald reported.

`The fact that the fighter aircraft were downed is something that the government needs to stop denying. The CDS himself mentioned that.

`Earlier Air Marshal Bharti had mentioned it indirectly in his briefing along with the DGMO, Reddy, himself a former air force pilot, was quoted as having said.