New Delhi, March 6 -- Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday said that India's strategic autonomy and national sovereignty are under a "dire threat" as the United States allowed a 30-day waiver for New Delhi to purchase Russian oil amid shipping routes passing through the Strait of Hormuz being hampered.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday (local time) announced the 30-day measure to counter Iran during the conflict in West Asia, which has severely affected the Gulf countries supplying crude oil.

In an X post, Mallikarjun Kharge strongly criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, claiming that he was being "blackmailed" by the US. Recalling PM Modi's "Main desh nahi jhukne doonga" (would not let the nation bow down), ...