NEW DELHI: Seven senior retired officers of the armed forces, including five Lieutenant-Generals, joined the BJP in the presence of Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday.“It is indeed my pleasure to receive such very well-decorated senior officers of the armed forces into the party...The BJP benefits from the presence of such senior ex-servicemen. They can guide on policies on nation security building,” Sitharaman said at a press conference.
In the run up of the 2014 general elections, retired Army chief VK Singh had contested the polls on a BJP ticket. He was also given minister of state rank in the Ministry of External Affairs. On Saturday, BJP leaders asserted the veterans of the Indian Army and Air Force joined the saffron party in support of the BJP’s policy on national security.
The veterans included two former Deputy Chiefs of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. JBS Yadav and Lt. Gen. SK Patyal, and three former top Army officers Lt. Gen. RN Singh, who had served as the director general of military intelligence, Lt. Gen. Sunit Kumar, the former director general of information services and IT, and Lt. Gen. Nitin Kohli, who had served as the signal officer-in chief at Army headquarters. Colonel RK Tripathi, who had served as judge advocate general, and Wing Commander Navneet Magon, a former IAF medical services doctor, also joined the party.
After joining the party, Army officers said that they were retired but have the strength to serve the country again. The group of veterans voiced their appreciation for Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his ‘dynamic leadership and patriotism’. The pace with which development work is going in India under the Modi government is really very impressive, they said.
In April, Lieutenant General (retired) Sarath Chand had joined the BJP. He had retired as vice chief of Indian Army on June 1 last year.