Surgical strikes hero D S Hooda to head Congress' panel on national security vision

The Congress president is setting up a 'task force on national security' to prepare a vision paper for the country, which will be headed by Gen. Hooda.

Lt Gen DS Hooda (retd) with Congress president Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi: D S Hooda, a former Northern Army commander the hero of 2016 surgical strikes met with Congress President to institute a task force on National Security which will prepare a vision paper for the country, the party said. Hooda will lead the task force and will work with a select group of experts. As per information received, party president Rahul Gandhi met Hooda and discussed the modalities of the panel. "The Congress president is setting up a 'task force on national security' to prepare a vision paper for the country," a party source told PTI. Hooda will lead the panel and prepare the paper in consultation with a select group of experts.

Cong Pres @RahulGandhi sets up a Task Force on National Security to prepare a vision paper for the country. Lt Gen DS Hooda (retd) will lead the Task Force and prepare the paper in consultation with a select group of experts pic.twitter.com/oRBn1wSAZC

— Ashish (ABP News) (@AshishSinghLIVE) February 21, 2019

Hailing the step, Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi tweeted, "Yet another positive and welcome step towards a strong nation and stronger national security by Congress President @RahulGandhi. The experience that Lt Gen (Retd) D S Hooda brings in, will benefit the nation in the long run." In another tweet, she said, "The only thing they will find is Surgical Strike and How's the josh?! :))"

Yet another positive and welcome step towards a strong nation and stronger national security by Congress President @RahulGandhi . The experience that Lt Gen (Retd) D S Hooda brings in, will benefit the nation in the long run.

— Priyanka Chaturvedi (@priyankac19) February 21, 2019

The only thing they will find is Surgical Strike and How’s the josh?! :)) https://t.co/LK9wZR0Why

— Priyanka Chaturvedi (@priyankac19) February 21, 2019

The Congress has been accusing the Modi government of politicising the surgical strikes. On September 29, 2016, the Army had carried out the strikes on seven terrorist launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC) in retaliation to an attack on its base in Uri earlier that month. Congress' move comes at a time when the nation is outraged over Pulwama attack and is demanding another surgical strike in unison.