Eastern Army Commander Lieutenant General Praveen Bakshi, the senior-most officer who was superseded with the appointment of Lt Gen Bipin Rawat as the new Army chief, met Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday. The meeting took place amid speculations that Lt Gen Bakshi could resign from the army.
According to officials, Lt Gen Bakshi sought a meeting with Parrikar as a courtesy call and it lasted for about 15 minutes. However, officials refused to divulge any details of the meeting between the two. There were no other aides or officials present during the meeting.
Lt Gen Bakshi met with Army Chief General Dalbir Singh at his South Block office following his meeting with Parrikar, according to local media reports.
The Centre last Saturday had announced that Lt Gen Rawat would be the next army chief once Gen Singh retires on December 31. Lt Gen Rawat superseded Lt Gen Bakshi and Lt Gen PM Hariz due to which there was speculation about the future course of action of the two superseded officers.
This is not the first time that the tradition of seniority while appointing the army chief has been compromised. In 1983, Lt Gen SK Sinha was superseded by Lt Gen AS Vaidya who was appointed as the army chief. Lt Gen Sinha then met with then Army Chief General KV Krishna Rao and the then Defence Minister R Venkataraman to inform them of his decision to quit the armed forces.
Lt Gen Bakshi, who belongs to the Armoured Corps, has time till December 31 to decide his course of action. The taking over ceremony is set to take place on December 31.
Lt Gen Rawat will take office as the new army chief of India from January 1, 2017.
