Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Samajwadi Party (SP) today sought the dismissal of Army Chief Gen. V. K. Singh for making public his reported letter to the Prime Minister expressing concern over the state of preparedness of the Army with RJD chief Lalu Prasad advising him to remain within the limits.
“He (General) should be sacked immediately. Why he was silent all these days if there was shortage of ammunition,” the RJD chief asked while talking to reporters outside Parliament.
Describing the Army Chief as a “frustrated” man, he said, “It seems the General wants to fight elections. If there are any issues concerning the forces then he should have taken the Defence Minister into confidence. There is a huge investment on defence forces.”
RJD chief further said, “He should remain within his limits.”
Terming the development as very “serious and sensitive”, Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav also demanded sacking of the Army Chief.
“People always have faith in our forces. It is a very serious and sensitive issue as far as the letter is concerned which states that 97 per cent of our ammunition is not good”, the SP leader said.
He said responsibility should be fixed for the leakage of the letter and whoever is responsible, action should be taken against him.
“If Army Chief is responsible for it, which prima facie suggests... he should be sacked immediately. If this kind of indiscipline grows in Army then it will be a dangerous trend for the country.”
However, Mr. Yadav said the development is also a sign of weak leadership.
Expressing concern, Janata Dal (United) leader Sharad Yadav said, “It has never happened in the last 63 years. We are very concerned over the development. This is a very serious issue and whatever is happening is not good.”
