'Rogue' elements creating rift between govt, me: Army Chief

The Army Chief has made a new statement saying that it was wrong of the media to continue projecting a rift between the army and civilian government, saying that rogue elements were trying to create a schism between the Defence Minister and his office. Referring to the ‘anti national’ elements he blamed on Thursday for leaking of his private letter to the Prime Minister, the statement further said that “selective leaks” had culminated in the airing of his letter to the Prime Minister. [caption id=“attachment_261455” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“The army chief is seeking to smooth things over: AFP”] [/caption] “There are rogue elements in our society which have played an active role in trying to project a schism between the Honourable Raksha Mantri and the Chief of Army Staff (CoAS). This is untrue and needs to be guarded against,” Singh said. “For the media to constantly project every issue as a battle between the government and Army chief is misleading,” Singh said in the statement. The army and the chief of army staff are part of the government, he said. “Frivolous and uninformed comments should not be made on military matters”, he said. The statement, also clarified the timing of the bribery issue, saying that it had been revived now because the person in question re-surfaced in March 2012. He added that institutional corrective steps had been taken after talks with Defence Minister AK Antony on the same issue earlier. The letter concluded that as Indian citizens the whole country was duty bound to serve country and protect integrity of the army even if we sometimes have to look within. Download Firstpost eBook on the Bribery/procurement row