New Delhi: Cutting across party lines, several MPs today welcomed the "one rank, one pension" announcement in the interim budget.
Minister of State for Defence Jitendra Singh said it was a very very genuine demand and he was "personally very happy".
He said Congress President Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi had also spoken to the Prime Minister favouring the demand.
Finance Minister P Chidamabaram announced that the government has accepted the "one rank, one pension" principle as part of a 10 per cent hike in the defence budget, a decision that the ruling Congress hopes will win it the support of lakhs of soldiers ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
"I welcome the `one rank, one pension` announcement. This is something that has been demanded for a decade," said BJD MP BJ Panda.
Hailing the decision, RJD MP Raghuvansh Prasad said, "Though the budget has offered nothing for the poor, the `one rank, one pension` announcement was a good one and we support it."
The RJD leader said, "There was a long standing demand for it and the government was not acting on it. It is good that it has been done now."
JD(U) leader KC Tyagi also welcomed the `one rank, one pension` scheme.
"There is no question of opposing it" Tyagi said, while trashing the rest of the budget.
