Congress corners Centre over possible reduction in Army strength

The Congress on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on the Central Government over a possible reduction in the Indian Army force strength.

Referring to some unconfirmed media reports which claimed that Army is mulling upon a proposal to cut up to 1.5 lakh jobs, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi asked, "Is government cutting services of 1.5 lakh security personnel? Is it being done to save Rs.5000 crore which will be used for maintenance of equipments? Why is the government which has failed in giving employment reducing jobs in the Army?"

Earlier, reports emerged that Indian Army is considering reduction of its strength by 1.5 lakh men, thereby saving Rs .5,000 crore to Rs. 7,000 crore a year in revenue expenditure.

He further intensified his verbal attack on the government and said, "In the last 4.5 years, the government has spent Rs. 5 thousand crore on the advertisement. Rs. 35 lakh was spent on fitness video of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rs. 60 crores are spent every month to update Prime Minister Modi's picture. Rs. 1100 crore was spent on Bharatiya Janta Party's headquarter and Rs. 2000 crore has been spent on Prime Minister's foreign tours till now. Amid all these expenditures, the force strength is being cut down to save Rs. 5000 core.