Nothing should be done to lower dignity of Army chief’s office: PM

Singh has termed Express report of Army troop movement towards Delhi as 'alarmist'.

Amid controversies involving General V K Singh,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said today that everybody has the obligation to ‘do nothing to lower the dignity’ of the Army Chief’s office.

“The Army Chief’s office is an exalted office. All of us have an obligation to do nothing that would lower its dignity,” Singh told reporters on the sidelines of a function to give away the Padma Awards at the Rashtrapati Bhawan here.

There have been controversies recently between the Army Chief and the government,first over his age issue on which he took the government to Supreme Court and later on claims that he was offered a bribe of Rs 14 crore in connection with a defence deal.

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‘The Indian Express’ reported today that two Army units moved towards Delhi without informing the government on the night of January 16,the day General Singh had moved the Supreme Court on his date of birth issue.

Singh said: “These are alarmist reports. They should not be taken at face value.” The Prime Minister said the Ministry of Defence had already issued a clarification in this regard.

‘The Indian Express’ report said that another unit — identified as a large element of the 50th Para Brigade based at Agra was also moving towards Delhi.

According to the report,the Army had said the exercise was to check effectiveness in fog.

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