Army Chief Briefs Parrikar on Affidavit Against V.K. Singh  

New Delhi: Army Chief General Dalbir Singh on Thursday briefed Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar about an affidavit in which he accused former Army chief General V.K. Singh, who is now a minister in the Narendra Modi government.

Parrikar had sought details about the affidavit, which was originally filed in the Armed Forces Tribunal in 2012, wherein Dalbir Singh said he was “victimised” by the then army chief V.K. Singh “with the sole purpose of denying promotion to the appointment of Army Commander”. Sources said the affidavit was filed by Dalbir Singh in his “personal capacity” when he was not the army chief, nor was V.K. Singh a minister.

The old affidavit was resubmitted by the present army chief after the matter came before the Supreme Court. V.K. Singh slapped a discipline and vigilance ban on Dalbir Singh between April and May 2012 for alleged “failure of command and control” in an operation in Assam’s Jorhat in 2011. The ban was lifted in June 2012 after General Bikram Singh succeeded V.K. Singh as the army chief. Dalbir Singh was then appointed commander of the army’s Eastern Command.

AAP demands sacking of V.K. Singh: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday demanded the removal of Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh from the Cabinet, saying the former army chief had become a “national liability” for the numerous controversies he raked up, including “victimising” present Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag.

“A person who intended to create friction in the army, whose track record as an army chief was mired in controversies like the age row, who set up a parallel branch for snooping on ministers, one who compared the Dalits with dogs as a minister... there were reports he also wanted to engineer a coup,” AAP spokesperson Raghav Chadha told the media here.

The AAP demanded removal of Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh from the Cabinet, saying the former army chief had become a “national liability” for the numerous controversies he raked up.

“Such a person became a political liability for the Bharatiya Janata Party; but now, he has become a national liability. He should be immediately sacked,” Chadha said. The AAP leader said V.K. Singh should be removed also in the wake of his alleged attempts as the then Indian army chief at “victimising” the present Indian army chief General Dalbir Singh and acting with mysterious design, malafide intent and to arbitrarily punish to scuttle Suhag’s chances of a promotion”.

IANS