LAC standoff: Defence Minister to make a statement in Lok Sabha today

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 15

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will make a statement on the LAC standoff in Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

This will be the first time that the government will officially dwell on the border issue with India and China engaged in a prolonged standoff along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh.

The Congress leaders on Monday repeatedly tried to raise the issue in Lok Sabha but Speaker Om Birla disallowed it saying the issue was sensitive and needed to be dealt sensitively.

Congress Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury later said the government was trying to derail the opposition’s genuine concerns to seek clarifications on the matter.

The government will also discuss the issue with the Lok Sabha leaders in the business advisory committee meeting to be held here shortly and will likely set the perimeters of debate, citing the sensitive nature of the issue.

The Lok Sabha schedule for Tuesday says Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will make a statement on the “situation on our borders in Ladakh”.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been demanding clarifications on the Chinese aggression along the LAC and targeting the government for allegedly hiding the truth of Chinese transgressions.

Congress and other opposition parties had in the first BAC meeting for Lok Sabha raised the demand for a discussion on the Ladakh situation to which the government has said it would discuss the matter again at a leaders’ meet on Tuesday keeping the “sensitivity of the issue in mind”.

It remains to be seen if the government will allow opposition leaders to raise clarifications after Singh’s statement.