AAP demands sacking of VK Singh

New Delhi: In the wake of Army Chief General Dalbir Singh alleging victimisation by Union minister V K Singh when he was heading the army, AAP today said the minister has now become a "national liability" and demanded his sacking. The party said Dalbir Singh's claims raise serious concerns and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should address these. "A person who intended to create a friction in the army, whose track record as an army chief was mired in controversies like his age row, who set up a parallel branch for snooping on ministers, one who compared Dalits with dogs while being a minister...There were reports that he also wanted to engineer a coup. "Such a person had become a political liability for BJP, but now he has become a national liablity. He should be immediately sacked," AAP leader Raghav Chadha said.

In an unprecedented step of a serving Army Chief taking on one of his predecessors, General Dalbir Singh has alleged that he was "sought to be victimised" by Gen (retd) V K Singh, now a Union minister, with the sole purpose of denying him promotion as Army Commander. Gen Dalbir Singh made the allegation in an affidavit filed by him in his personal capacity while responding to a petition moved by Lt Gen (retd) Ravi Dastane who had alleged "favouritism" during his selection as Army Commander. Post retirement, V K Singh joined BJP and was elected to Lok Sabha from Ghaziabad. He has since been a minister of state in the Modi government. Chadha said that the incumbent army chief's affidavit poses more questions on why has the Prime Minister still kept him in the government. “We demand a probe into the matter," he said. AAP's national spokesperson Dilip Pandey said the Centre, in its affidavit to the Supreme Court, had given a clean chit to Dalbir Singh, but justice has still not been met out to him. "It was the Centre that gave Dalbir Singh a clean chit in its affidavit before the Supreme Court. But it failed to take any action against V K Singh who perpetrated it," he said.