Lt Gen Praveen Bakshi calls on Manohar Parrikar again

NEW DELHI: Eastern Army Command chief Lt Gen Praveen Bakshi met Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday, the second time he has done so after the government decided to supersede him and Southern Command chief Lt Gen P M Hariz to make General Bipin Rawat the Army chief.

Both sides were tightlipped about the meeting amid speculations that the government could offer Lt Gen Bakshi some post, after he retires in July on turning 60. But the government has ruled out that Lt Gen Bakshi is in line to become the country's first chief of defence staff, a new four-star general post that is in the works as part of the proposed higher defence management reforms, as was earlier reported by TOI.

Between the two meetings with Parrikar, first on December 21 and the other on Tuesday , Lt Gen Bakshi had on December 31 announced he would not resign and continue to lead the EAC with "full professional sincerity" as before. Incidentally, he is on a month long leave till January 26.

While some contended Lt Gen Bakshi should have quit after being superseded for the top post in line with the longstanding military ethos and tradition, the senior officer himself also conveyed that he wanted to fight the "smear campaign" against him.

As reported earlier, anonymous letters alleging irregularities in the use of the EAC chief 's emergency financial powers were apparently sent to authorities when the government was in the process of deciding who would replace Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag as the Army chief on December 31. But no substance was found in the allegations.