New Delhi: Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday said that after her party forms the government in Centre, it will scrap the Agnipath scheme.
Ahead of the Himachal Pradesh elections, Priyanka was addressing a rally at Nagrota Bagwan assembly constituency in Kangra district.
Speaking about the Agnipath scheme for recruitment into the Army, she said that it’s an insult to the martyrs of the hill state and that the party will cancel the recruitment plan once it forms a government in Centre.
She also said that the party will restore the Old Pension Scheme if voted to power in the state.
“We will cancel the Agnipath scheme when our govt will be formed at the centre. What we promise, we fulfill that. In Chhattisgarh, we promised farmer’s loan waiver and it was implemented,” news agency ANI quoted the Congress leader as saying.
While claiming that it was the grand old party which created Himachal, Priyanka also remembered former chief minister Virbhadra Singh and former minister GS Bali during her address.
HPCC chief Pratibha Singh, CLP leader Mukesh Agnihotri and other Congress leaders from Kangra were present in Thursday’s rally.
It is to be noted that Agnipath Scheme is a recruitment plan of soldiers in the army, navy and air force, on a four-year, short-term contractual basis.
Widespread protests erupted across the country in June after the Union Cabinet announced the scheme.
In Himachal Pradesh, which is known to be a state of army aspirants, youths demanded the immediate withdrawal of the scheme and the resumption of regular recruitment.
The Himachal Pradesh elections for 68 assembly seats will be held on November 12.