Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday virtually admitted that he made the commitment to implement one-rank, one-pension thinking that it would entail a cost of Rs 700-800 crore.
“What was OROP for the previous government? A Rs 500 crore programme? We too thought what was the harm in doing it if the cost went up to Rs 700-800 crore,” Modi said, addressing a rally in Faridabad after inaugurating a metro railway service to the township.
The prime minister admitted that it was only when the officials sat down to make calculations on the expense to the exchequer they realised the extent of the package.
“The entire government was tied in knots. All the officers involved were also tied in knots. The mystery started unfolding in the last few days when we started setting things right,” Modi said.
He added that finally, the government realised that this was not an issue that would be settled by an additional Rs 300 crore over and above the Rs 500 crore allocated by the UPA-II government. “When we calculated, we realised that the total cost came to Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000 crore,” Modi said.
The political blame game also continued with Modi hitting out at the Congress for misleading the armed forces over the government decision.
“Those who did nothing for 40-42 years...do they have any right to ask questions? They only misled you and committed sins. They only want to score political points. One-upmanship will not help the nation,” he said.
Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma said the prime minister was being the “most untruthful” if he had said that the decision on OROP was not taken by the previous government.
“I dare the prime minister and the defence minister to say that decision was not made earlier. If that is what they are saying, the prime minister is being most untruthful,” said Sharma, the Deputy Leader of the Congress party in the Rajya Sabha.
“We are not playing politics, we are just pointing out that the decision was made (by the UPA),” Sharma said.