BJP demands PM's assurance on defence preparedness

NEW DELHI: BJP demanded an assurance from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the country's defence preparedness in the wake of a parliamentary committee report voicing concern over shortage of equipment and ammunition, issues which were raised by the army chief earlier.

"On March 12, 2012 Chief of Army Staff General V K Singh had written a confidential letter to the Prime Minister in which he had mentioned about the dangers to our security. The Standing Committee on Defence has also admitted that the facts mentioned by Gen Singh are true," BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.

He demanded an explanation from the Prime Minister as to whether the country is capable of facing any challenge to its defence. "Are we ready to fight any crisis," he asked, and wanted to know if the morale of the army was high.

Rudy pointed out that when the issues mentioned by Gen Singh in his letter were "strongly raised" in Parliament, Defence Minister A K Antony had clarified that the sensitive letter cannot be a subject of general discussion.

"It was mentioned in the letter that the ammunition of the tank and guns have exhausted, the air defence equipments have lost their powers and the army is also facing shortage of arms," Rudy said, insisting that these concerns have been expressed about no "ordinary force" but the third largest military after the US and China.