Union minister VK Singh says Manish Tewari, by backing the report of the Indian Express in 2012 "decides to brazenly tell a lie."
Union Minister VK Singh, who retired as the Army Chief, has pilloried Congressman Manish Tewari for suggesting that there is some truth to a report that army troops were moved secretly towards Delhi in 2012, when Dr Manmohan Singh headed the coalition UPA government.
General Singh (retd), says Mr Tewari, by backing the report of the Indian Express in 2012 "decides to brazenly tell a lie." The former army boss says, "By trying to get at me he has once again caused collateral damage to the 13 lakh strong patriotic force that protects the country."
Mr Tewari's party has made it clear that he is on his own in this controversy and that it does not share his opinion. On Saturday, Mr Tewari said that the
Express article "was unfortunate but true" and that his insight was based on his membership of a parliamentary defence committee which had examined the allegations.
The Express article was seen as alluding to a possible attempt at a coup when General Singh was the army chief. The minister also says that Shekhar Gupta, then the editor-in-chief at the newspaper, may have been annoyed because the General had refused to appear on Walk the Talk, the weekly interview show that Mr Gupta conducts on NDTV.
This was a laughable story in 2012, it is a laughable story today. So please stop wasting the time of this country," General Singh said in a
lengthy statement.