Raising questions on Maj General B C Khanduri (Rtd) being divested of the important post of the chairman of parliamentary standing committee on Defence, the Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) vice-president Surya Kant Dhasmana said that the move has resulted from Narendra Modi Government’s apprehension of Khanduri as the head of the parliamentary committee making damming observations that could land the Union Government in uncomfortable position regarding the controversial Rafale aircraft deal.

Addressing the media persons here on Friday, the Congress leader reminded that Khanduri-led committee had made very serious observations in its report on March 13, 2018.

Citing the report, he said that as per the committee, the armed forces of the country were left with ammunition for ten days in case of a full-fledged war and the report added that most of the weapon systems had been termed as belonging to the vintage category. Dhasmana, further, said that the committee had also termed budgetary allocation for Army, Navy and Air Force as insufficient.

“The BJP Government knows that the issue of Rafale deal is bound to come before the parliamentary committee on Defence and presence of a knowledgeable and honest person like Khanduri would certainly be embarrassing for the government,” he said.

Launching a blistering attack on the State Government for pathetic condition of health services, Dhasmana said that nothing could be more unfortunate than the death of a woman and her new born baby  in the biggest Government hospital of the state due to lack of facilities. “One can well imagine the condition of health service in a remote area like Satpuli or Ekeshwar when conditions are so bad in Dehradun itself.

What is more, the CM is clinging to the health portfolio despite being overloaded with work. We demand resignation of the Health Minister taking responsibility for the sorry state of health services’’, he said.

The Congress leader said that 61 ambulances are getting rusted for over seven months in their wait for refurbishments. “But the Government is indifferent,” he said.

Expressing anguish over the crumbling law and order in the State, Dhasmana said that incidents of rapes are being reported from different parts of the State with alarming regularity. “The girls are not safe in the boarding schools, colleges and universities,” he said. He cited the broad day light murder of a person in the Assembly constituency of the Chief Minister to buttress his point that ‘Jungle Raj’ is prevailing in Uttarakhand.