Defence minister AK Antony on Monday turned tables on the BJP, saying that the NDA government signed a contract in 2003 for buying the controversial Tatra trucks and procured as many as 2,950 of them for special needs of the Operation Parkaram between 1999 and 2002.

Not a single Tatra truck has been bought since the procurement rules (GSR) were changed after the army headquarters' request, he affirmed in the Lok Sabha during question hour, responding to BJP's Jabalpur MP Rakesh Singh's allegations of allowing purchase of the trucks from the tainted Tatra despite the defence ministry's vehicles factory at Jabalpur ready to supply them. Singh had tried to put the minister in a box for not stopping Tatra purchases despite a letter he wrote in 2008 about the Jabalpur factory's capability.

The defence minister said there was no question of any purchases when trials were still on to pick up the best vehicles. He also pointed out that the trials were on, involving 14 foreign and six Indian companies. Antony told the house that 6,500 vehicles had been bought from the Czech company and the CBI is now investigating into irregularities in the deals.

On the army chief writing to the prime minister in March on acute shortage of arms and ammunition, Antony said there was nothing new in the defence chiefs occasionally writing to the prime minister and the defence minister in case of an urgency. Since general VK Singh's March letter, he had held two meetings to discuss the problem and resolved how to move fast as some deficiencies were found in the procurement, including impact of blacklisting some suppliers.

Indian forces are ready to meet any challenge and there is no cause of worry, he said adding, shortages are not one-day affair. He also said the NDA government had to make day-to-day imports during the Kargil war because of shortage.

He asserted that the government is increasing budget for defence needs as 780 contracts worth Rs 3,55,453 lakh crore were signed during the 11th Plan as against 580 contracts of Rs 1,55,609 lakh crore during the previous five year plan and the entire allocation in 2011-12 was utilised.

Antony said the armed forces have enough armament to be the best in the world as they have been sought after by 47 countries for cooperation and joint exercises.