Newly elected Member VK Singh during the BJP parliamentary party meeting at the Central Hall of Parliament in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Former Army Chief, Gen (Retd.) VK Singh, who has been made the Minister of State with Independent Charge in the Narendra Modi government, would be looking to start afresh, after a protracted, yet unsuccessful battle with the UPA government over his age.
He is the new Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region (Independent Charge), and also MoS External Affairs and Overseas Indian Affairs.
Gen. Singh, 63, lost the legal battle over the issue with the Defence Ministry in 2012 and joined Anna Hazare's anti-corruption agitation against the UPA Government before joining the BJP just before the elections.
In the Lok Sabha elections, Gen Singh defeated Raj Babbar of Congress from Ghaziabad seat by 5.67 lakh votes, which was second biggest margin in this election after Mr Modi, who trounced his Congress rival Madhusudan Mistry by over 5.70 lakh votes in Vadodara.
A newcomer to politics, Gen Singh's stint as Chief of Army Staff (COAS) was marked by controversies. Soon after he took over as the Army chief, he started an anti-corruption tirade in the Army which saw several Lt Gens including former Military Secretary Lt Gen Avadesh Prakash facing court martial for his role in the Sukna land scam.
A major part of his tenure was overshadowed by his battle with the Government over his age issue as he claimed it to be May 10, 1951 whereas the Government said it was May 10, 1950.
The issue saw Gen Singh become the first service chief in the country to drag the Government to court and later, the Supreme Court decided in favour of the Government.
In his last days in office, Gen Singh stirred controversy when he stated that he was offered a bribe of Rs 14 crore for clearing a file related to the procurement of 600 Tatra trucks for the Army.
The issue snowballed into a big controversy and the Defence Ministry under AK Antony had to order a CBI probe to investigate the issue.
Gen Singh's secret military intelligence unit Technical Support Division (TSD) was also charged with being involved in snooping into telephone conversations of senior defence ministry officials at the height of his age controversy.
Post retirement, he came under fire from the Army headquarters which blamed the TSD created by him for carrying out unauthorised and illegal operations and trying to destabilise the state government in Jammu and Kashmir.
In his autobiography, Gen Singh blamed unnamed officials in the Prime Minister's Office including a coterie of bureaucrats and journalists for making attempts to destabilise him during his tenure as the Army chief.
But Gen Singh is known to be a tough taskmaster and a hands-on person.
He initiated the transformation studies in the Army to make it more efficient and improving its capability for waging a two-front war.
A top-notch Commando from the US Army Ranger school, he is credited for accomplishing the tasks assigned to him by the higher authorities.
He commanded the Ambala-based 2 Strike Corps and the Kolkata-based Eastern Command before taking over as the Army Chief in 2010.
He is the new Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region (Independent Charge), and also MoS External Affairs and Overseas Indian Affairs.
Gen. Singh, 63, lost the legal battle over the issue with the Defence Ministry in 2012 and joined Anna Hazare's anti-corruption agitation against the UPA Government before joining the BJP just before the elections.
In the Lok Sabha elections, Gen Singh defeated Raj Babbar of Congress from Ghaziabad seat by 5.67 lakh votes, which was second biggest margin in this election after Mr Modi, who trounced his Congress rival Madhusudan Mistry by over 5.70 lakh votes in Vadodara.
A newcomer to politics, Gen Singh's stint as Chief of Army Staff (COAS) was marked by controversies. Soon after he took over as the Army chief, he started an anti-corruption tirade in the Army which saw several Lt Gens including former Military Secretary Lt Gen Avadesh Prakash facing court martial for his role in the Sukna land scam.
A major part of his tenure was overshadowed by his battle with the Government over his age issue as he claimed it to be May 10, 1951 whereas the Government said it was May 10, 1950.
The issue saw Gen Singh become the first service chief in the country to drag the Government to court and later, the Supreme Court decided in favour of the Government.
In his last days in office, Gen Singh stirred controversy when he stated that he was offered a bribe of Rs 14 crore for clearing a file related to the procurement of 600 Tatra trucks for the Army.
The issue snowballed into a big controversy and the Defence Ministry under AK Antony had to order a CBI probe to investigate the issue.
Gen Singh's secret military intelligence unit Technical Support Division (TSD) was also charged with being involved in snooping into telephone conversations of senior defence ministry officials at the height of his age controversy.
Post retirement, he came under fire from the Army headquarters which blamed the TSD created by him for carrying out unauthorised and illegal operations and trying to destabilise the state government in Jammu and Kashmir.
In his autobiography, Gen Singh blamed unnamed officials in the Prime Minister's Office including a coterie of bureaucrats and journalists for making attempts to destabilise him during his tenure as the Army chief.
But Gen Singh is known to be a tough taskmaster and a hands-on person.
He initiated the transformation studies in the Army to make it more efficient and improving its capability for waging a two-front war.
A top-notch Commando from the US Army Ranger school, he is credited for accomplishing the tasks assigned to him by the higher authorities.
He commanded the Ambala-based 2 Strike Corps and the Kolkata-based Eastern Command before taking over as the Army Chief in 2010.
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