Army chief appointment row: Think of national security before petty politics; says Sambit Patra to Congress Party

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday criticised the Congress Party for politicising the issue of the Army chief appointment, and said that this tug of war is unbecoming and national security should be paramount.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra told ANI, "Such kinds of tugs of war on such an important national security issue is unbecoming. 

We should all rise above petty politics and think of national security first.

On Saturday, the government announced the name of Lt. Gen. Bipin Rawat as the new Chief of Army Staff and Air Marshal B.S. Dhanoa as the new Chief of Air Staff Lt. Gen. Rawat, who took over as Vice-Chief of Army Staff in September 2016, bypassed Eastern Commander Lt. Gen. Praveen Bakshi (Armoured Corps) and Southern Commander Lt. Gen. P.M. Hariz (Mechanised Infantry) to bag the coveted post.

Lieutenant General Rawat has remarkable experience of serving in combat areas and at various functional levels in the Indian Army over the last three decades.

The Army veterans on Sunday came to the rescue of the government, which has been drawing flak post the decision to appoint Lt. Gen. Rawat as the next army chief, and said that seniority was not the only aspect taken into consideration prior to making an appointment for such a coveted post.