If voted to power, Cong will fulfill OROP commitments: Rahul

NEW DELHI: A Congress-led government would fulfill all the commitments the party had made on the ‘one rank, one pension’ issue, Rahul Gandhi told a group of ex-servicemen on Saturday. The Congress chief made the remark at a press interaction, after a 30-minute-long meet with retired defence personnel at the AICC headquarters here, during which the Rafale deal issue and the Kashmir situation also came up.

Gandhi told the ex-servicemen, after the press meet, that if his party is voted to power in the 2019 parliamentary election, it will “fulfill all the commitments”, the Congress had made on the OROP issue.

The ex-servicemen told me that OROP has not been implemented, and they also discussed other issues, he said.

“These issues are related. That they (the government) have Rs 30,000 crore to give to Anil Ambani but our soldiers can’t be given OROP. This is the connection,” Gandhi told reporters.

“And, the amount of Rs 30,000 crore was more than enough to solve the OROP issue,” he said.

The Congress has alleged that the Anil Ambani-led company was favoured by the Modi government on the offset contract of the French fighter jet deal. The private firm, however, has denied the allegations.

The meeting was also attended by former defence minister A K Antony, AICC general secretary Ashok Gehlot, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala and several retired senior officials of the defence forces.

Major General (retired) Satbir Singh, who has been spearheading the agitation for implementation of the OROP ( ‘one rank, one pension’) told reporters after the meet that they have appealed to Gandhi to take up the issues with the government, as the Congress is the principal opposition party.