Former Army chief V K Singh on Tuesday termed the UPA Government’s move to appoint the Army chief designate, while the Lok Sabha polls are under way and three months before the present incumbent is due to retire, “morally and ethically” wrong. He also slammed his detractors for trying to link the issue with his relative and Southern Army Commander Lt Gen Ashok Singh.
“The selection process (for Army chief’s appointment) is an ongoing business and it should continue, with the final clearance being granted by the new Cabinet.”
“However, there are clear indications that the outgoing UPA Government is deliberately speeding up the process, in order, to abrogate the decision to itself. This is morally and ethically incorrect,” Singh, who is the BJP candidate from Ghaziabad Lok Sabha seat, said in a statement here. Regarding the charge that he was raking up the issue to favour the officer, whose son is married to his daughter, he said, “the interest of the organisation and the institutional integrity of the armed forces and the country must come first, every time and always. Who is married to whom is and never was a consideration.”