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Pilot to join Territorial Army as Lieutenant
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 5
Union Minister Sachin Pilot will don the Army’s olive green uniform tomorrow. Pilot (35), who will join the select list of politicians having parallel careers in the Territorial Army (TA), will be commissioned as a regular officer by Army Chief General Bikram Singh.

Pilot, the Minister of State for Communications and IT, cleared the written exam and the Service Selection Board (SSB) interview at Allahabad recently. He will be joining the force as a Lieutenant before proceeding for the training at the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun, Army sources said. A person can apply and join the TA till the age of 42.

Besides Pilot, other politicians who have been regular officers in the TA include Rao Birender Singh of Haryana, KP Singh Deo, a former Union Minister, DY Sema, a minister in the Nagaland Government, MPs Sanjay Singh and Manvendra Singh.

The young minister, who is an MP from Dausa in Rajasthan, will be following his family tradition. His father, Rajesh Pilot, was a fighter pilot in the Indian Air Force and left service in 1980 to join politics after his friend Rajiv Gandhi requested him to do so.

Gen Bikram Singh and Additional Director General of TA, Lt General AK Siwach, will accord Sachin Pilot the rank of Lieutenant. Pilot will also have to do a mandatory training at the TA Academy at Devlali in Maharashtra. He will be commissioned into 124 TA Battalion of the Sikh Regiment. After clearing the written exam earlier this year, Pilot appeared in the SSB interview last month at the Allahabad centre.

Unlike cricketers Kapil Dev, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and actor Mohan Lal, who joined the force as Honorary Lieutenant Colonels, Pilot will be joining TA as a regular officer and will be asked to do service like other TA officers.

Uniform love

• Pilot, the Minister of State for Communications and IT, cleared the written exam and the Service Selection Board interview at Allahabad recently
• He will be joining the force as a Lieutenant and will be commissioned into 124 TA Battalion of the Sikh Regiment
• Unlike cricketers Kapil Dev, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and actor Mohan Lal, who joined the force as Honorary Lieutenant Colonels, Pilot will be joining Territorial Army as a regular officer