Army Chief-designate Lt Gen Bikram Singh on Tuesday called on Defence Minister A. K. Antony at his South Block office.
During his first visit to the capital after the government announced his appointment as the new Army Chief from May 31, Lt Gen Bikram Singh also met Defence Secretary Shashikant Sharma.
He is also scheduled to meet Army Chief Gen V. K. Singh on Wednesday. Army officials said the meeting will be a customary one and the two will discuss usual matters.
The Army Chief was on an official visit to Ambala and came back in the evening. Lt Gen Singh, who is also looking after the charge of the Kolkata-based Eastern Command, will now be visiting the capital on a frequent basis as he will also be consulted before taking any decision related to the Army.
Infighting irks Def Min
Defence Minister is ‘extremely upset’ over the infighting in the Army in the wake of the controversy surrounding the clandestine tapping of some sensitive phones in the Capital allegedly by the force.
Sources close to Antony said on Tuesday that the he was ‘extremely upset’ over such developments in the Army as it would impact the image and prestige of the Service.
The Army Headquarters had on Monday taken an unusual step and issued a press release to allege that Lt Gen (retd) Tejinder Singh along with ‘some disgruntled serving officers of the Military Intelligence’ were behind planting stories in the media in this regard.
The Army had alleged that Singh was behind the media report about mobile monitoring equipment. The retired General was earlier questioned on the purchase of 'off-the-air monitoring system' without sanction by the technically empowered committee. It said Singh has also been an allottee in Adarsh Housing Society in Mumbai.
Army sources had said the report is a fabricated fiction and that the people responsible are some disgruntled officers, retired and serving, whose sole aim was to create a mistrust between the Army and the Defence Ministry.
Singh yesterday refuted the charge that he was planting stories in the media and said he will take legal action against the people accusing him of any wrongdoing.
Army Chief Gen V. K. Singh reacted sharply to reports that he had deployed interceptors for clandestinely listening to important phone conversations between key people in the Capital involved in the Army age issue before the Supreme Court. Singh had dismissed it as fiction.
An anonymous complaint received by the Government listed several allegations against the Army Chief, including possible misuse of off-the-air interveptors to listen in on phone conversations in the national capital.