Former President Pratibha Patil on Friday denied that she had advised the former Army Chief, General V.K. Singh, not to resign on the controversy over his age. Ms. Patil claimed she told the former General that it was for him to decide whether to quit or not.
Ms. Patil was answering questions by reporters who asked her about General Singh’s claim in his autobiography, Courage and Convictions , that the former President had told him: “I hope you are not thinking of resigning.”
The former President said the General Singh had met her as she was the Supreme Commander of the armed forces and told her that he was facing a lot of political pressure and he wanted to resign. “Keep all issues aside. Your first duty is to serve the nation,” General Singh quotes Ms. Patil as saying.
‘Nehru had paranoia of military coup’
India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had the “paranoia” of a military coup, former Gen. V. K. Singh has claimed.
“Since independence, the top political leadership in the country has been haunted by the possibility of a military takeover. It is no secret that people around Nehru exploited his paranoia of a military coup.”
