NDA compromising country’s defence preparedness: Cong

MEDIA REPORTS SAY MINISTER RAO INDERJIT ACCUSED ARMY AND DEFENCE MINISTRY’S ACQUISITION WING OF “UNFAIR SELECTION” IN A GUN CONTRACT

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Friday accused the BJP-led NDA government of “compromising” with the country’s defence preparedness, citing Union minister Rao Inderjit Singh’s reported objections on the process of acquisition of 44,000 carbines. Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma attacked the government for ignoring the objections of Singh, who was the minister of state for defence till earlier this week, and the offer of Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) for partial manufacturing.

This was all the more serious as the minister in a letter in 2015 had raised the objection, contending that a single vendor will push the price up, he said. Media reports stated that days before his exit, Singh had a “major row” in a ministry meeting over the gun deal, in which he accused the army and defence ministry’s acquisition wing of “unfair selection” in the contract.

Singh reportedly batted for Italian firm Beretta in the list of vendors and even asked for a CBI probe in the selection process. Israeli firm IWI was the only one that passed the test. Raising questions over creation of a single-vendor system, the Congress leader alleged that the working style of the Modi government was “not transparent”, especially in connection with the defence policy.

“Contrary to what the government says, they have compromised with the defence preparedness of India in a very serious manner,” Sharma alleged, claiming that there was “arbitrariness” in decisions on the matter. “All critical decisions on defence acquisitions are being made by a small cabal,” he said and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “undermining” the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS). Sharma said the CCS deliberates on different aspects of defence policy but the Prime Minister’s style is to “bypass” the established systems.