Manish Tewari: MoD officials told me ‘privately’ Raisina Hill was indeed spooked in Jan 2012

Former army chief and now union minister VK Singh rubbishes his claim, calls him 'jobless'.
Manish Tewari: MoD officials told me ‘privately’ Raisina Hill was indeed spooked in Jan 2012
Manish Tewari: MoD officials told me ‘privately’ Raisina Hill was indeed spooked in Jan 2012
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In a new revelation, Manish Tewari, former Union I&B minister in the UPA government said on Saturday, that the much-debated Indian Express report on two key Army units moving towards Delhi without notifying Govt in 2012 was “unfortunate… but true.” He was also part of the Standing Committee of Defence in that period.

Tewari, who was speaking at a book release function in New Delhi was asked a question about media coverage of issues where defence forces were concerned, with a specification on the 2012 report.

Responding to the question, Tewari said, "That particular story you are referring to, that time I used to serve in the Standing Committee on Defence and it is unfortunate but the story was true. Story was correct.”

He however said later that his belief was based on private conversations with members of defence ministry, and that the ministry still denied it officially.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Tewari said: "I was a part of the Standing Committee on Defence and I recall that in April of 2012, after the story appeared in The Indian Express, there was a briefing of the committee done with respect to the story. During the briefing, the Defence ministry maintained the stand that the government had officially taken. Privately, the officials involved in the briefing confirmed to me that the story ‘may just be true’."

When quizzed further, Tewari declined to elaborate. 

The newspaper had reported in 2012 that on the night of January 16, intelligence agencies had reported an unexpected (and non-notified) movement by a key military unit. Both the military formations were halted, and sent back within hours.

Then Army Chief, General V K Singh had denied the report and called Tewari jobless. "Manish Tewariji has nothing to do these days. There is this book of mine, ask him to read it and every thing will be clear to him," Singh is reported to have told journalists in Delhi

Watch Manish Tewari answering the question here.

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