Army Chief points finger at ’rogue’ elements for schism between him and defence minister

HT

New Delhi, 30 March 2012:  Army chief General VK Singh on Friday criticised the role of media and some rouge elements within and outside the govt for trying to project the ongoing controversy as a battle between the govt and the General. He said that for last one week these rough elements have been trying to create a schism between the govt and the Army chief and the media’s role has also been negative. The matter was first reported by a TV channel.

 

He further said that the media should not project it as a battle between the two and there is a need to guard against such rough elements as there is no schism between us.

 

He also said that the bribery issue was revived this month because the person in question in the bribery incident resurfaced this month. He said institutional corrective steps were taken even after talks with the  defence minister.

Lt Gen (retd) Tejinder Singh                                     Gen  V. K. Singh

He also said that we are duty bound to protect Army’s integrity even if we have to introspect.

 

General V K Singh has in the past one week alleged that former Defence Intelligence Agency chief Lt Gen (retd) Tejinder Singh had offered him a Rs.14 crore bribe to clear an order for 600 Tatra trucks for the army. On March 27, his letter to the Prime Minister detailing glaring deficiencies in India’s defence preparedness was leaked to the media.

 

On Thursday, it emerged that he had dug out a May 2011 letter from Trinamool Congress MP Ambika Banerjee charging 3 Corps Commander Lt Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag with corruption.

 

Lt Gen Suhag is tipped to become the chief after army chief-designate Lt Gen Bikram Singh retires in 2014. Antony said he wasn’t aware of the 10-month-old complaint being referred to the CBI by the chief.