Implement OROP or face stir: Rahul

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 23

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi today warned the Centre of an agitation if it failed to ensure early implementation of the one-rank, one-pension (OROP) scheme for the ex-servicemen.

Rahul here today met around 100 members of the Congress’ ex-servicemen cell from different states. Addressing the members, he said he would “exert pressure on the government to deliver on this front at the earliest”.

The meeting lasted an hour and was attended by delegates from Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi and Bihar. “A year has passed since the BJP assumed power at the Centre. One-rank, one-pension was a promise that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made in his pre-poll speeches. Why the delay now? Defence personnel guard our borders and their demands must be met on a priority,” he said.

The Congress vice-president claimed the scheme was announced by the UPA government, and that it had even allocated money for it.

The government had yesterday said it was in the process of finalising the formula for calculation of pension, and that “it was committed to OROP”. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had made the remark.

But the opposition Congress today wondered “what was taking the BJP government so long to deliver on this promise”.

Former Defence Minister AK Antony went to the extent of dubbing it as “criminal delay”. “A year has passed since the government was formed and they say they are still working out the modalities! We want to know when they will start handing over cheques to ex-servicemen and pensioners,” said Antony, rejecting talks of the UPA not leaving enough money for implementation of the scheme.

Modi’s China visit a failure: Singhvi 

Ahmedabad: Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Saturday described PM Narendra Modi’s visit to China a “complete failure”. He said the BJP government was “endangering national security by trying to please a powerful neighbour”. Singhvi alleged Modi had failed to address any of the pending issues between the two countries.