VK Singh row: Jaitley confirms Lt Gen Suhag as Army chief

The Defence Ministry was left embarrassed after an affidavit filed by it before the apex court accused Minister of State for the north east, external affairs and overseas affairs – former Army chief VK Singh – of stalling the promotion of Chief-designate Lt. General Dalbir Singh Suhag. A mortified Arun Jaitley sought an explanation from officials of the Defence Ministry on how comments accusing Singh had made their way into the affidavit that was filed in the Supreme Court on 4 June, shortly after the Narendra Modi government took charge, The Hindu reported. However, Jaitley’s ordeal had just began. In the Rajya Sabha today, the Congress brought up the issue of VK Singh’s tweet against the appointment of Suhag and MP Anand Sharma said that his presence in the Parliament was ominous. “How can he keep tweeting despite being a minister. He is demoralising the forces,” said Anand Sharma. He added that Singh shouldn’t be allowed to continue in the Parliament. It then fell to Defence Minister Jaitley to douse the fire Singh has sparked. He said that the Army should be kept out of such politics. He also declared the Suhag’s appointment has the next Army chief was final and will not be changed. Commentators noted how Jaitley steered clear of defending Singh, because, obviously, defending Singh would amount to critiquing his own government. Singh had tweeted the following: https://twitter.com/Gen_VKSingh/status/476377064417656832 [caption id=“attachment_1565329” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Defence Minister Arun Jaitley. AFP[/caption] On the other hand, while reporting on the affidavit, Hindu says, “The affidavit accuses General VK Singh of taking an “illegal, premeditated” course to stall the promotion of Chief-designate Lt. General Dalbir Singh Suhag, as Army Commander of Eastern Command in 2012 ( something that would put him in line for Army Chief) by citing “certain lapses in the chain of command” concerning an intelligence operation in Dimapur.” Before lashing out at Singh in the Parliament, the Congress had demanded Singh’s resignation, yesterday itself. “This minister cannot remain in the Council of Ministers. It’s a matter of detail whether he is removed or he resigns,” party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi told reporters at the AICC briefing yesterday. The former Army Chief had a running battle with the UPA II government over a controversy on his date of birth. Incidentally, he is the first minister whose resignation is sought by the Opposition since the BJP government was formed a fortnight ago. The Congress’ pitch for removal of Singh as minister came as the government has told the Supreme Court that the alleged lapses which were made as grounds to impose disciplinary ban on Suhag by Singh between April and May 2012 were “premeditated”, “vague” and “illegal”. The Ministry of Defence, in its affidavit to the apex court said that the disciplinary proceedings against Suhag was “without any basis or material on record”. Singhvi said this is a “direct vote of no-confidence by the government describing the action of its own minister as ‘illegal’, ’extraneous’ and ‘premeditated’”. “How is it possible for a minister to continue in the Council of Ministers of the same government, which expressed such categorical no confidence against him,” he asked. “After that only one option is there that he no longer remains in the ministry.” Singhvi said that people of the country and the nation want to know whether a minister would continue to hold his office after all these. “If anything wrong is furnished in an affidavit before the Supreme Court, it amounts to perjury (intentional act of swearing a false oath) and can have serious consequence,” the Congress spokesperson said. The government affidavit came in response to a plea of Lt Gen Ravi Dastane alleging favouritism in the selection of Suhag as the Army commander who will succeed the Army chief. VK Singh is a minister of state (Independent charge) in the Narendra Modi government and holds the DoNER, External Affairs and Overseas Indian Affairs portfolios. With inputs from PTI