At a time when most of the political parties demanded Army Chief V.K. Singh’s resignation over leakage of his letter to the Prime Minister and his allegations about being offered a bribe, main Opposition BJP only faulted the Army Chief for “breach of discipline”.
Sources disclose that the party is of the view that as the government has already been embarrassed over the controversies related to the Army Chief, including his age debate, it is better not to take sides with either the government or the Army Chief. The BJP infact, wants to “grill” the government on issues related with the defence ministry, including leakage of the Army Chief’s letter and his allegations of being offered a bribe, during the demand-for-grants discussion. The BJP has decided to chose defence ministry as its subject of discussion during the demand-for-grants debate.
“Why should we get ourselves involved.... The government is already in a mess....All is not well (in the government).... We want a thorough discussion on what is ailing the defence ministry,” said a senior party functionary.
When asked about the party’s view on the demand of ally JD(U) for Gen. Singh’s dismissal, BJP chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “We do not share the view that he should be sacked.”
He claimed that to deal with such issues, deft political management and statecraft is required, “which this government appears to be lacking”.
Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said the contents of the Army Chief’s letter are scary. The BJP is also of the opinion that writing such a letter to the PM is a “breach of discipline”.