Ahead of the monsoon session of Parliament, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday briefed the Parliamentary Consultative Committee on Defence on the Agnipath scheme at the end of which the Opposition MPs submitted a memorandum demanding its immediate withdrawal.
The memorandum was signed by Congress MPs Mallikarjun Kharge and Shaktisingh Gohil, Supriya Sule of the Nationalist Congress Party, Saugata Roy and Sudip Bandhopadyay of the Trinamool Congress, and A.D. Singh of the Rashtriya Janata Dal. But the Congress’s Manish Tewari, who has publicly lauded the scheme, did not sign the document. According to sources, he relayed to the others that the consultative committee should not be a used as a political platform.
Soon after the opening remarks by Mr. Singh and the presentation made by the Department of Military Affairs, sources said that Congress member Shaktisinh Gohil made an elaborate comment, decrying the scheme. He said that the scheme should first be launched as a pilot project.
