TMC opposed to Agnipath, could speak to Rajnath

NEW DELHI: Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha MPs Sudip Bandopadhyay and Saugata Roy, members of the parliamentary consultative committee for defence, said on Thursday that in their capacity as members of the parliamentary panel they will speak to defence minister Rajnath Singh on the Agnipath scheme of recruitment into the armed forces that has been launched by the Centre.
Bandopadhyay told the media on Thursday that “if need be we will speak to the defence minister," when asked for the party’s views on the violence that broke out across states, in protest against the 4-year employment scheme.
Roy said that as members of the parliamentary panel they will bring up the matter in the consultative committee for detailed discussion, as there seems to be a lot of resistance to the scheme from all quarters.
The MPs were here as part of a 10 member delegation to the rural development minister Giriraj Singh, demanding pending payment for MNREGA to West Bengal.
After a discussion with the minister on Thursday, Bandopadhyay who headed the delegation said, "we are not satisfied, but some steps have been taken and the minister has promised to reply to our memorandum and the two letters on the same issue written by chief minister Mamata Banerjee to Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier, within 48 hours."
The 10 member delegation including Saugata Roy, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, Kalyan Banerjee, Pratima Mondal, Sajda Ahmed, Dola Sen, Jawhar Sircar and Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, were also told that concerned officers from the centre and the state would meet soon to resolve the matter, Bandopadhyay said.