Former Union minister M.M. Pallam Raju on Wednesday blamed the NDA government at the Centre for 'intelligence failure' that led to fierce clashes between Indian and Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh which left 20 Indian soldiers dead.

Expressing concern over the outbreak of violence between the soldiers of two nuclear armed neighbours, he said, "We have lost lives and that means it is a very serious situation.

"What I feel sad about is that the build up (of Chinese soldiers) would not have certainly happened overnight. It would have taken some time. I feel it is an intelligence failure that we did not anticipate the build up," the former minister of state for defence told PTI.

Wondering how the government failed to anticipate the situation at LAC, he said, "only after the defence minister (Rajnath Singh) made a statement that they (Chinese) came in large numbers did we know of the actual situation.So I don't know why we failed in anticipating it. We have an established border defuse mechanism in place."

At least 20 Indian Army personnel, including a colonel were killed in a violent face-off with Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh on Monday night, the biggest military confrontation in over five decades that has escalated the already volatile border stand-off in the region.

According to Raju, there were disputes over the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China and never was the situation escalated to this extent before.

The Chinese would carry out patrolling up to the point where they believe was their border even as the Indian troops go up to the point, which they considered was our border.

He opined that China was resorting to such tactics to divert the global attention from Covid-19 pandemic as it has been subjected to criticism for its alleged failure to check the spread of the virus.

Meanwhile, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi slammed Modi for the loss of lives and demanded that he admit his "failure" to defend the country.

"It is time for @PMOIndia to keep aside his macho posturing & share the facts with the country. Will he come clean & admit his failure to defend Indian territory? Will he accept his fault in continuing talks with China, even while it occupied the Indian territory?," he asked in a series of tweets on Tuesday night.

He pointed out that the PM has a constitutional duty to defend the country from external aggression.

Owaisi also conveyed his condolences to the families of the martyrs.