'No difference between establishment and armed forces', says Pallam Raju

New Delhi, Apr 12 (ANI): Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju on Thursday said there is no difference between the establishment and the armed forces, and added that the government is working in harmony with the three services.

When asked whether there is any role of an insider behind the leakage of Army Chief General V K Singh's letter, Pallam Raju said: " There is no difference between the establishment and the armed forces. We are working in harmony. I do not want to speculate on speculative reports."

Responding to a question on rapid modernisation of military infrastructure by the Chinese Army along its border with India, Pallam Raju said India is also acquiring capabilities and emphasized that all efforts are being made to upgrade the infrastructure.

"China's budget is four times that of India so they will definitely have larger resources to dedicate to that. But that does not mean that we are under-prepared in anyway. We are also gathering momentum in the way we are acquiring capabilities and the way we are building our infrastructure," he said.

When asked to comment on the purchase of Basic Trainer Aircraft (BTA) Pilatus for the Indian Air Force (IAF), Pallam Raju said: "There is a procedure for acquisition for anything; and because of the shortage of the trainer aircraft, the Pilatus would be processed as soon as possible (in the light of ) urgency of need for the trainer aircraft."

The Minister of State for Defence was talking to the media after inaugurating a national seminar of NCC here. (ANI)