Change in House panel agenda irks Congress

The Congress is upset by the “last minute change” in the agenda of the Standing Committee on Defence. Congress MPs Ambika Soni and Madhusudan Mistry have said that the agenda was changed a day before the meeting and that they will raise the issue with the committee chairman.

Earlier, the agenda of the meeting was on the cross border surgical strikes. Mr Mistry said, “We believe the agenda must have been fixed after consultation with top defence ministry officials. We see no reason why it has been changed at the last minute. It has happened before also.”

Congress members said if the Opposition leaders can be briefed about the cross border strikes, why can’t the Members of Parliament “It has been learnt that there was the shortage of arms to the Special Forces who carried out the surgical strike,” they said. They also took on the defence ministry saying “despite repeated mentions, the committee never presented its policies and preparedness to meet emergency situations, if at all, created by the neighbouring countries nor they have come out with valid reasons for delay in the acquisition of defence equipment.”

The Congress has now demanded that the original agenda of the forthcoming committee meeting should be maintained. They also asked the defence officials to inform the committee about the number of surgical strikes carried out since 2004.