New Delhi: Finding itself in the midst of a huge controversy, the main Opposition Congress on Sunday dismissed as baseless the assertion of its leader and former Union minister Manish Tewari, who termed a controversial media report of 2012 on troop movements during the tenure of Gen. V.K. Singh (Retd) as Army Chief as “unfortunate but true”.
The controversial report — that hinted at a coup attempt — was dismissed at the time by the then UPA-2 government itself. Mr Tewari’s assertion now also brought forth a derisive denial by the former Army Chief, who is now a Union minister of state. He remarked on Sunday that Mr Tewari “has no work these days”.
Abhishek Singhvi tells Manish Tewari to shut up
An embarrassed Congress, which had rejected the report when the controversy erupted for the first time, dismissed Mr Tewari’s claim.
“I am again clarifying there is absolutely no truth in it (claims on 2012 troop movement). My colleague (Manish Tewari) was neither a member of the Cabinet Committee on Security, nor any relevant decision-making body,” Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said, adding that some troop movements are necessary, “inbuilt and inevitable part of the defence mechanism”. He added, “It was inappropriate, unnecessary and completely wrong to suggest that there was any truth in those allegations when made.”
Mr Singhvi also warned Mr Tewari not to comment on things he was not authorised to speak about.
“I wish to reiterate that and wish to request and advise on behalf of the Congress Party that such remarks and observations in respect to which he is neither the authorised spokesperson of the party nor the spokesperson on foreign and defence affairs, nor privy to any of the relevant committee or decision-making body, should have been and should be in future completely avoided,” he said.
“We on behalf of the Congress very clearly and categorically want to deny this report,” said another party spokesman P.C. Chacko.
Gen. V.K. Singh (Retd), now minister of state for external affairs, dismissed Mr Tewari’s allegation, saying, “He has no work these days. He should be asked to read my book which reveals everything (on the issue).”
The BJP also questioned the timing of Mr Tewari’s claim, but he stood firm on what he had said.
Replying to a question at a book release event Saturday, Mr Tewari virtually dug out the nearly four-year-old controversy from its grave, saying, “At that point of time I used to serve in the standing committee on defence. And it’s unfortunate, but the story was true. The story was correct.” Mr Tewari, who was MoS information and broadcasting in the UPA government from October 2012 to May 2014, said, “I am not getting into an argument. All I am saying is that to the best of my knowledge that story was correct.”
The Congress leader was asked about media coverage of issues relating to defence forces as in the case of the media report in a national daily in April 2012, that was titled “The January night Raisina Hill was spooked: Two key Army units moved towards Delhi without notifying Govt”. Isolated in his own party over his claim, Mr Tewari said, “Whatever I said yesterday, I have nothing more to add or subtract.”
The controversial media report four years ago had claimed that Central intelligence agencies had reported that on the night of January 16, 2012, there was an unexpected and non-notified movement by a key military unit towards Delhi.
