CDS should protest loudly, our voice will join him: Chidambaram on reduced defence budget allocation

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Saturday said the chief of defence staff should strongly protest against the reduced budget allocation for defence sector and the party will stand in his support.

In a marginal hike, the defence budget was increased to Rs 3.37 lakh crore for 2020-21 against last year's Rs 3.18 lakh crore, notwithstanding expectations of a significantly higher allocation to fast-track long-pending military modernisation.

"It is for the new secretary, the Department of Military Affairs, and the chief of defence staff to protest loudly, I want him to protest loudly. We hope he will," the former finance minister said when asked about the issue.

"He is the Chief of Defence Staff and the Secretary, Department of Military Affairs. So, I want him to protest loudly and I assure him, our voice will join him and in protesting loudly, but he should lead the protest," he added.

The allocation compared to last year's budget estimate of Rs 3.18 lakh crore is an increase of 5.63 per cent but it comes to around 1.8 per cent if calculated against the revised estimate of 3.31 lakh crore for 2019-20.

Out of the total allocation, Rs 1.13 lakh crore has been set aside for capital outlay to purchase new weapons, aircraft, warships and other military hardware, according to the Union Budget presented in Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.