Sena raps Centre over absence of full-time defence minister

The Shiv Sena on Friday sharpened its attack on the Centre over the absence of a full-time defence minister and accused it of "toying" with national security.

"It has been three months since the change of the defence minister but we do not have anybody handling the ministry full time as yet. A nation as big as India not having a full-time defence minister amounts to toying with national security," the Sena said in an editorial in party mouthpiece 'Saamana'.

"People are responsible for this (of voting BJP-led government to power) and soldiers are now bearing the brunt of this misdeed (people's choice)," it said. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was given the additional charge of the Defence Ministry in March after Manohar Parrikar resigned to take on his new role of Goa Chief Minister.

The Sena also said it is evident from the "casual" manner in which issues of soldiers and farmers are being handled that the government is hit by a "mental scam".

"People who are today roaming around as saviours of the nation are not able to hear out farmers nor can they lend a ear to the sorrows of family members of soldiers being brutally killed. The slaying of soldiers in the past one year should be treated as culpable homicide by the government," it said.

Sena's criticism of the government comes in the backdrop of the killing of a young Kashmiri Army officer Lt Ummer Fayaz.

Fayaz had gone to attend the wedding of the daughter of his maternal uncle at Batapura, about 74 kms from Srinagar, from where he was abducted by militants on Tuesday. His bullet riddled body was found on Wednesday morning.