Troops' movement: Tewari asks 'antsy' V.K. Singh to read his book first

As the war of words between former information and broadcasting minister Manish Tewari and Minister of State for External Affairs General (Retd.) V.K. Singh escalates over the former's assertion on troops movement in 2012, the Congress leader has hit back at the former army chief and asked him to read his book first.

"Why is Right H"onble MP from Ghaziabad getting so antsy ofcourse I would love to read his book provided he promises to read mine- in offing!," Tewari said in a tweet.

Disapproving the Congress leader's admission that the Raisina Hill incident was reported correctly by the Indian Express in 2012, General (Retd.) Singh has said that 'jobless' Tewari has 'no work these days'.

"Manish Tewari ji has nothing to do these days. There is this book of mine, ask him to read it and everything will be clear to him," he told reporters.

The former army chief was referring to his autobiographical book 'Courage and Conviction' where he has criticised various situations in which he was involved, including alleged corruption in the Indian Government and the role of Indira Gandhi in Operation Bluestar.

The Indian Express had on April 4, 2012, reported that late on the night of January 16, 2012 (the day then Army Chief General V.K. Singh approached the Supreme Court on his date of birth issue), central intelligence agencies reported an unexpected (and non-notified) movement by a key military unit from the mechanised infantry based in Hisar (Haryana) as a part of the 33rd Armoured Division (which is a part of 1 Corps, a strike formation based in Mathura and commanded by Lt Gen. A K Singh) in the direction of the national capital.

The Indian Express had earlier claimed the report is a meticulous reconstruction and a very sober interpretation of the movement of two key Army units towards New Delhi on the night of January 16-17, 2012.