New Delhi: Defence Minister George Fernandes was once again in the eye of a storm with Congress on April 23 demanding his ouster from the government following "severe and comprehensive indictment" of the Defence Ministry by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence.

"In our considered view the report of the Standing Committee on Defence is a severe and a comprehensive indictment of the working of the Defence Ministry....We, therefore, demand that Fernandes be dropped from the Ministry," party spokesman S Jaipal Reddy told reporters.

Stating that it was a "unanimous" report by the Committee headed by a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament, he said the indictment was on many counts backed by "concrete evidence and substantive points".

"Earlier, we were demanding Fernandes ouster on the grounds for his turpitude, now in addition to turpitude we are demanding his ouster for his ineptitude," Reddy said while sharply reacting over the Standing Committee report.

Picking up three major points of the report to attack the government, he said first one is "continuous gross under-utilisation" of funds earmarked for modernisation and upgradation of Defence forces, which is "reflection" on the entire National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.

"BJP-led government at Delhi is displaying verbal belligerency when it comes to security, but when it comes to actual action they developed cold feet," he said.

The performance of the Defence Ministry is so greatly compromised that "we charge it with the neglect of even the minimal Defence requirement at a time when the external environment deteriorated sharply".

PTI