Superseded, Lt Gen Bakshi may resign

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 21

Lt General Praveen Bakshi, who was superseded along with another senior officer in selection of the new Army Chief, today met Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag in Delhi amid speculation that he may resign.

Eastern Army Commander Lt Gen Bakshi had flown in from Kolkata for the post-lunch meetings. On December 17, the government appointed Lt Gen Bipin Rawat as the Army Chief, superseding Lt Gen Bakshi and Lt Gen PM Hariz, the Southern Army Commander.

In the past, Lt Gen SK Sinha had resigned when his junior General AS Vaidya was appointed as the Army Chief in 1983. In April 2014, Vice Admiral Sekhar Sinha resigned when his junior Admiral Robin Dhowan was appointed as the Navy Chief. In the forces, there is no concept of a senior working under his junior. Lt Gen Bakshi is senior by two batches to Lt Gen Rawat when he passed out of the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun.

But former military officers say even if Lt Gen Bakshi resigns, he will do that at the end of this month when Lt Gen Rawat takes over as the Chief. Also, there is possibility that he can continue for a few days in January and wait for the government to “rehabilitate” him and then opt to quit.

Defence Ministry officials confirmed that the two meetings did take place and the one with Parrikar was a “courtesy call”. There is speculation that Lt Gen Bakshi could be appointed as India's first Chief of Defence Staff, but that looks unlikely for now. To meet Lt Gen Bakshi, Parrikar had flown back from Goa today, where he was campaigning for the assembly elections.

The decision to supersede Lt Gen Bakshi has not gone down well with senior officers who have questioned the logic of “ignoring” seniority, especially when Lt Gen Bakshi has held several top positions.