CPM posers on CDS post

About four months since Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee initiated consultations with political parties on the ticklish proposal for a Chief of Defence Staff, here come a few posers from the principal Left ally CPI(M): If the CDS has to be chosen from among the chiefs of the three Services on rotational basis, what is the point of appointing a CDS?

It would be yet another bureaucratic arrangement and a mere cosmetic exercise.

And if the CDS does not come from among the three Service Chiefs, where would the defence minister stand in terms of the exercise of powers and authority vis-à-vis the CDS? Does the CDS have to be an authority or institution in itself? If that is so, what happens to the civilian authority? Who controls the nuclear command?

"In fact, we are not clear on many issues. For instance, how will a CDS fit in the existing scheme of things? We will take a view on this matter only after the government clarifies these points ," said CPI(M) Politburo member and MP Sitaram Yechury.

These posers will figure in CPI(M)'s response to the defence minister, to be sent shortly.