New Delhi: Defence Minister A K Antony has said Navy Chief D K Joshi was very upset with the latest mishap in his fleet and had requested him to accept his resignation. Antony said he had met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and consulted "everybody" before accepting the resignation of Joshi.
Antony, who came under criticism from former top navy officials for promptly accepting Joshi's resignation, said, "I consulted everybody. I met the Prime Minister also. Ultimately, we took a decision to accept the resignation."
Describing the Navy Chief as a "very good Admiral" and a "fine human being", the Defence Minister said he is "sad" about the whole development. This is the first reaction of the Defence Minister after Admiral Joshi decided to hang his boots.
"Yesterday Admiral Joshi met me personally and he handed over me resignation letter and he requested me to accept the letter with immediate effect," he told reporters.
Admiral Joshi had suggested that till a final arrangement is made, Navy Vice Chief Vice Admiral Robin Dhovan be made the acting Navy chief, the minister said. "He (Admiral Joshi) was very disturbed by the whole development. He is very fine human being and a very good admiral. He was totally upset about the whole development. He requested me that he would like to take the whole responsibility, so he requested me to accept his resignation with immediate effect," Antony said.
A specialist in anti-submarine warfare, Admiral Joshi had taken over as the Navy Chief on August 31, 2012.
(Read: Why did Navy chief quit?
Meanwhile, the Navy has on Thursday afternoon confirmed the death of two missing officers, Lt Commander Kapish Muwal and Lt Manoranjan Kumar. Seven sailors were airlifted but are in a serious condition.
The process is also on to bring the ill-fated submarine to the Mumbai dock. "It is taking a bit longer time in towing the submarine because of its restrictive movement. Though it is in the immediate vicinity, it will take some time to bring it to the dock and some more to berth it," said a Navy source.
The sudden resignation of Admiral Joshi has dramatically altered the line of succession in the Indian Navy. Sources said that even though the current Navy Vice Chief Vice-Admiral R.K. Dhowan has been named officiating navy chief pending a regular appointment, it is Western Command chief Vice-Admiral Shekhar Sinha who is the senior-most naval officer after Admiral Joshi.
(Read: Succession chaos in Navy)
