Maj Gen (retd) Satbir Singh, chairman of the Union Front of Ex-servicemen of India, in Dehradun on Saturday. Tribune photo

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, February 4

The Union Front of Ex-servicemen of India, which has been staging a dharna at Jantar Mantar in Delhi for One Rank One Pension (OROP), has extended support to the Congress in Uttarakhand.Union’s chairman Maj Gen (retd) Satbir Singh, while addressing a press conference in Dehradun today, said their organisation had full faith in the leadership of Harish Rawat.He sought a promise from the Congress government that it would sincerely work for the betterment of ex-servicemen in the state if it is re-elected.He said the state government had promised that all vacancies for ex-servicemen in state government jobs would be filled at the earliest.Maj Gen Satbir Singh accused the Narendra Modi government at the Centre of failing to implement OROP. “The OROP being provided to us is mere eyewash and not the OROP demanded by the ex-servicemen,” he alleged.Ex-servicemen could no longer be neglected in the country and it was the very reason that they had decided to intervene politically and support the Congress in the Assembly poll taking place in five states, he said.Responding to queries, Maj Gen Satbir Singh said in the 2014 parliamentary elections, they had supported the BJP but the party ditched them and so they were now supporting the Congress.State Congress president Kishore Upadhyay expressed gratitude to the Union Front of Ex-servicemen of India for supporting the Congress. People of Uttarakhand had close links with defence forces and the Congress was expected to make major gains with ex-servicemen’s support, he added.