Naidu slams Opposition on row over Army chief's appointment

With the Centre's appointment of the new Army chief by superseding two senior officers coming under the cloud, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu today asked the Opposition not to politicise the issue as "it would boomerang on them".
"It is not advisable to politicise and make a controversy out of the appointment of the Army chief. Politicisation of the issue will boomerang on them," he said in a tweet.
The appointment of Lt Gen Bipin Rawat as new Army chief yesterday had mired in a political controversy with Congress and certain other opposition parties questioning the Prime Minister to spell out the "compelling reasons" for the appointment.

Vice Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Bipin Rawat was appointed as the new army chief superseding his two senior officers -- Eastern Army Commander Lt Gen Praveen Bakshi and Southern Army Command chief Lt Gen P M Hariz.
Congress leader Manish Tewari had yesterday slammed the Centre for "playing with institutions" and doing politics in the Army even as he wondered if it was "whimsical cherry picking."
CPI leader D Raja said appointments in the Army, judiciary or those of CVC, acting CBI director and to Central Information Commission have all become controversial under the current dispensation.
BJP, however, maintained that there should be no politics on defence forces, asserting that Lt Gen Rawat was elevated keeping in mind the current security scenario.