Rahul Gandhi, Cong members walk out of defence parl panel meeting

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and other members of his party on Wednesday walked out of a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Defence, alleging that the panel's time was being wasted in discussing armed forces' uniform instead of the crucial issue of national security, sources said.

Gandhi was disallowed to speak at the meeting by the panel chairman Jual Oram (BJP) when he sought to raise the issues of Chinese aggression and better equipping the soldiers at the border in Ladakh, they said.

The sources said the issue of uniforms of the Army, Navy and Air Force was being discussed in the presence of the Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat when Gandhi intervened to say that instead of discussing this, the political leadership should discuss the issues of national security and how to strengthen the forces who are fighting the Chinese in Ladakh.

The Committee chairman did not allow Gandhi to speak, following which the Congress leader decided to walk out, they said, adding Congress members Rajeev Satav and Revanth Reddy also left the meeting along with their leader.