V K Singh's remark on J&K ministers' payoffs triggers political storm

Former Army Chief V K Singh39s claim that money was paid to ministers in Jammu and Kashmir from secret funds set off a political storm on Tuesday with ruling National Conference NC and ally Congress daring him to name the beneficiaries amid a demand for a CBI probe As the NC threatened legal action against Gen retd Singh if he failed to name the ministers Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said government was ready to probe if the beneficiaries were identified The Congress dubbed Singh39s remark as irresponsible and not in national interest while the NC said he has done something quotextremely wrongquot on the issue of funding of political parties Former Army Chief VK Singh File Pic The former army chief had also allegedly claimed that state minister Ghulam Hasssan Mir was paid Rs119 crore to destabilise the state government But he subsequently on Tuesday denied that any money was given to topple the state government He said the money given for quotdevelopment worksquot in the border state was quotnot a bribequot Mir has vehemently denied getting any money out of the army39s secret funds Ministers in the National Conference NCCongress coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir ridiculed VK Singh39s statement that state ministers have been getting secret funds from the army National Conference provincial president Devender Rana asked VKSingh to name the ministers who have taken money quotIf the name of any NC minister figures he will be sacked by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah as the NC believes in morality and probity in public lifequot quotAs far as Ghulam Hassan Mir is concerned after the statement of General Singh it is he who has to address to his consciencequot Rana said in Srinagaru00a0 quotV K Singh should name politicians He should reveal the names of those to whom money was allegedly paid If details are given we can investigatequot Shinde saidu00a0 In a statement bearing signatures of all the present and former NC Ministers the ruling party said it will be forced to take legal recourse if he failed to name the ministers It also said that the ministers concerned in the Omar Abdullah cabinet will quit if they are named by Singh calling his allegations quotabsurd and far from truthquot Singh had on Monday claimed that quotcertain ministersquot in J and K are given money by the Army for quotstabilityquot and that this has been going on since Independence Farooq Abdullah President of J and K39s ruling NC demanded a CBI probe into the allegations made by Singh Singh39s remark drew a sharp reaction from the Congress with former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad expressing shock and a party spokesman slamming him for his quotirresponsiblequot statement quotI have no knowledge about this and I am as curious as you are to know about the names of the persons who were being paid and who are being paidquot he added Congress spokesperson P C Chacko said quotirresponsiblequot statements from Singh brought quotdisgracequot to the Army J and K Sports minister and state Congress leader Taj Mohiuddin dared the former Army chief to name the ministers who were given funds BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said the issue is not about an individual but about the weakening of an institution quotThat the government is doing all this targeting Singh is wrong as these are matters or national securityquot she said Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi also waded into the row over Singh39s remark saying if he discloses Singh39s advice to him years ago on counterinsurgency operations as the then chief of Eastern Army Command it would be a quotbig embarrassmentquot to everyone Opposition People39s Democratic Party PDP patron Mufti Muhammad Sayeed said the central government must restrain the army and intelligence agencies from trying to interfere in democratic institutions Hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani said the former army chief39s statement has only proved what the separatists have been saying for years while others in the separatist camp contacted by IANS said quotthe socalled mainstream Kashmiri politicians are responsible for choking the political space in Kashmirquot Union Minister of State for Home RPN Singh said in New Delhi that VKSingh and the media should show quotsome restraint because these are sensitive issues these are things that cannot be discussed on televisionquot Union Health Minister and former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said he was shocked at seeing the reports quotI myself have been the chief minister so I was shocked to know about this I have no cluethat these things are being done and are happeningquot Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said quotIf any malfeasance is found then action will be taken against any officer serving or retiredquot Congress leader Digvijaya Singh wondered why the former army chief was making such revelations now Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said the revelation quotdoes not augur well for the countryquot quotIt demoralises the services and it also goes to undermine institutions in this case military intelligencequot she said The BJP has termed the leak of the army report as personal vendetta against VK Singh because he was seated next to the party39s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi at a rally in Rewari in Haryana