The reports over the spat between the Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Kodagu district in-charge Minister S.R. Mahesh has evoked a evoked a response from the Ministry of Defence.
It said the tour program of the Defence Minister was finalised by the district administration of Kodagu in consultation with the public representatives and was approved and circulated to all concerned. Subsequently, on the request of the district administration, an interaction with the veterans was added to the schedule.
Giving the sequence of events, the release said on completion of the field visits, the Defence Minister was interacting with ex-servicemen who had been adversely affected by the floods, when the District in-charge minister objected and insisted that meeting with the officials be conducted first. The Defence Minister clarified that welfare of ex-servicemen was an essential part of the Ministry of Defence and the same was scheduled in the program, the release added.
The release stated that the venue for interaction was set up for a press conference and it was unprecedented to hold a meeting with the officials, with all the media persons present.
Referring to Mr. Mahesh’s subsequent remarks in a section of the media the release said it (remarks) had lowered the dignity of the upper house of the Parliament (Rajya Sabha) and show utter lack of regard and knowledge about the Indian Polity.
It also took exception to the what it termed as gross misrepresentation with regard to the use of the term ‘parivar’ by the Defence Minister during the press conference. “One of the four departments of the Ministry of Defence is the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare and in that context it was stated that all ex-servicemen are part of the MoD ‘parivar’. Any other inference is misconstrued and uncalled for,” the release added.
