The Congress has asked Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee to take Parliament into confidence about the country’s defence preparedness before undertaking his visit to Pakistan for the SAARC summit.Speaking in the Lok Sabha during zero hour, Congress chief whip Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi said he wished Vajpayee ‘‘good luck’’ for his trip to Pakistan in January. However, ‘‘before his visit, the Prime Minister should take the House into confidence about the country’s defence preparedness.’’He recalled that the Congress had conveyed its best wishes before Vajpayee embarked on his bus journey to Lahore in February 1999, ‘‘which was followed by Kargil.’’Thereafter, Dasmunsi switched to the report of the standing committee headed by Madan Lal Khurana, which, according to him had pointed at the under-utilisation of funds meant for modernisation of defence forces. ‘‘We are concerned about the under-utilisation of funds,’’ he said. He regretted that the ‘‘10th defence plan is still not finalised.’’ Dasmunsi said another issue that will make ‘‘jawans cry’’ is the Government’s ‘‘failure’’ to get one lakh bullet-proof jackets at a cost of Rs 150 crore. ‘‘This has put the lives of thousands of our jawans to danger,’’ he said.This brought Raghunath Jha of the Samata Party on his toes. Jha said: ‘‘He has raised the issue of defence. But, he should also have the courage to listen to whom it concerns.’’BJP chief whip Vijay Kumar Malhotra said: ‘‘If they are serious on the issue, I wish to ask them — Are they ready to listen to Defence Minister George Fernandes?’’ Dasmunsi argued that he was asking the Prime Minister to reply.Speaker Manohar Joshi said: ‘‘His notice will be examined. The Prime Minister has the privilege to reply to any question. The Prime Minister or the minister concerned can reply.’’
