Congress MP Manish Tewari on Monday stayed away from signing a letter submitted by Opposition members to defence minister Rajnath Singh regarding their objections on the Agnipath scheme, a contractual recruitment model for the military.
Singh and three service chiefs briefed the parliamentary panel on 'Agnipath' scheme that was launched last year following which massive violent protests were seen in several parts of the country, by defence aspirants, and was severely criticised by many opposition parties.
The briefing came days ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, starting July 18, when the Opposition is likely to rake up the issue. At least six MPs, including those from the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the RJD raised objections to the new recruitment scheme and demanded that it be rolled back, a PTI report said.
They also reportedly gave a hand-written note to the defence minister that said the government should rethink the scheme.
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{{/usCountry}}The MPs who signed it included Shaktisinh Gohil, Rajani Patil (both Congress), Supriya Sule (NCP), Saugata Roy and Sudip Bandyopadhyay (both TMC) and AD Singh (RJD).
However, Tewari, one of the members of the G-23 (or Group of 23) who had openly dissented against the Congress leadership, was not among the signatories. The Congress MP, who has publicly praised the scheme and taken a stand contrary to his party's on the issue, reportedly wanted to know whether the scheme in any manner would impact the pension bill.
He also asked if it would reduce the operational readiness at the cutting-edge level, to which the Army chief responded saying the operational readiness will not be compromised at any level.
The Congress has said that Tewari's views on the Agnipath scheme are his personal and do not reflect the party's opinion.
The committee has 20 MPs as members - 13 from the Lok Sabha and seven from the Rajya Sabha. At least 12 MPs were present during Monday's meeting. Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury were among those who skipped the two-hour meeting.
(With inputs from agencies)