Defence ties with Israel to stay: Pranab Mukherjee

Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee yesterday said the configuration of parties that represent the new government would not deter India from maintaining defence relations with Israel.

An accepted Common Minimum Programme (CMP) would act as a map for navigating the policies of the Manmohan Singh-led government, he added.

"Running a coalition is no problem. We will have a CMP, which will reflect the opinions of the constituents and supporters of the new government. All those who have brought this government into being are concerned about the safety and security of the nation. There can be no two opinions about this. So, we will operate within the broad parameters of the CMP and will decide to let the government formulate policies at the appropriate level. If a decision is to be taken in the Cabinet, it will be taken. We may have divergent views, but when we are together to form the government it is a different matter," Singh said during an informal interaction with reporters yesterday.

The Left parties, in their recommendations to the committee drafting the CMP, have asked the government to renew its commitment to the Palestinian cause and continue support to Arab countries.

The Communist Party of India has asked the government to discontinue its strategic alliance with Israel and renew its support to Palestine. Of late, Israel has replaced Russia as the biggest supplier of defence equipment to India.

Mukherjee also said the new government was not averse to investigating defence deals signed by the previous government, but added that if any deals had been signed after the general elections were announced, these would be cancelled.

"Deals will be cancelled depending on when they were signed. If there are any complaints of wrongdoing, we will look into them," he added.

Mukherjee also said he was generally for the integration of the defence services and supported the idea of a Chief of Defence Staff. However, he said a decision on this would be reached after he had studied the papers on the subject.

Mukherjee also conceded that scarce budgetary resources represented a problem for India.

In these circumstances, if funds were allowed to lapse, it was not a healthy development, he said referring to the fact that Congress President Sonia Gandhi had, in her speech on the motion of no-confidence against the Vajpayee government in the Lok Sabha, criticised the previous National Democratic Alliance government for letting funds for defence lapse without applying its mind on how best they should be spent.

"Let the Budget come. Then we will see how funds are going to be used," the minister said.