Gen. Suhag's appointment is final, says Arun Jaitely

Following General V.K. Singh's tweet accusing Army Chief designate, Lt Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag of supporting dacoity, Defence Minister Arun Jaitely said on Wednesday that his appointment as the next chief of army staff is final.

He added that Lt. Gen. Suhag's appointment should be kept out of the political realm, according to media reports.

General V.K. Singh had tweeted yesterday; "If unit kills innocents, does dacoity and then head of organization tries to protect them, should he not be blamed? Criminals should go free!!"

"MOD affidavit same as it gave to AFT under protective and conniving UPA, so what is new folks?"

Reacting to this, Rajya Sabha MP from Janata Dal United (JDU), K.C. Tyagi accused Singh of trying to block Suhag's appointment.

"From past seven years the post of defense minister was never controversial, but this time, BJP has made it one. Two days before the appointment of General Suhag, Subramnyan Swamy went to the election commission to stop Suhag's appointment so that V.K. Singh's relative A.K. Singh could be appointed," said Tyagi.

"Suhag is more efficient and senior to A.K. Singh, and this is the criteria of recommendation in military. I appreciate Arun Jaitely' for asking for that copy of the affidavit which has been given by the defense ministry in the court which is contrary to the claims made by V.K. Singh. This is BJP's first scandal, and I request both Narendra Modi as well as Arun Jaitely to either ask for V.K. Singh's resignation or to remove him from his position," added Tyagi.

Meanwhile BJP leader, Subramanian Swamy said that Suhag's appointment should be reviewed

"I agree with General Singh that the appointment of General Suhag should be reconsidered.