Pranab downplays differences between army chief, govt

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday sought to downplay the battle of attrition between Indian Army chief General V K Singh and the government.

"There is no fiasco. It has been explained by the defence minister on the floor of the House," he told the media at his south Kolkata residence. He was asked to comment on the differences between the army chief and Defence Minister A K Antony.

The army chief had on Friday said that there were "rogue elements" trying to project a "schism" between him and the defence minister and asserted that he was part of the government.

Gen Singh said that projection of schism between him and Antony was "untrue and needed to be guarded against".

The army chief, who has been facing flak with some political leaders demanding his removal, said for the media to constantly project every issue as a battle between the government and the army chief is "misleading".

His attempt to further cool tempers apparently comes as a response to Antony expressing government's confidence in the service chiefs at a press conference on Thursday.

Antony and Gen Singh had condemned the leak of the army chief's letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as anti-national and high treason respectively.

The army Chief, who had lost his battle with the government over the age row, had recently raised the hackles of the government by giving an interview claiming he was offered Rs 14 crore in bribes to swing a sub-standard deal. The leak of the letter to the prime minister had raised tensions between the two sides.

For Rediff Realtime News click here