War within: Did Army chief General VK Singh's rivals spook govt on troop movements?

NEW DELHI: A media report about the movement of two Army units towards Delhi on the night of January 16-17, triggering fears of a challenge to civilian authority, set off an avalanche of denials on Wednesday, turning the spotlight on one of the worst kept secrets in the capital - the bitter factional feud in the top echelons of the Army.

Amid a chorus of denials to the Indian Express report from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, defence minister A K Antony, the defence secretary, the ministry of defence and the Army, one relevant refutation came through: no notification was required to be given to the defence ministry for the movements of Hisar-based mechanized infantry unit and the Agra-based 50 Para brigade towards Delhi.

And if this was indeed the case, why did the movements create an alarm in the capital? On whose advice did government leaders come to believe that there might be something irregular about what was routine movement of army units to test their efficacy in fog conditions?

That there was alarm seems to be borne out by the fact that the police were directed to raise barricades on the highway as part of what was called a counter-terror exercise. The objective was to slow down the movement of the two units.

The swiftness with which the police drill was set in motion has raised many eyebrows, considering the country can pride itself on its disciplined army with an unshakeable commitment to democracy. Open insubordination has not been considered a realistic risk even by conspiracy theorists.

Many in the capital wondered whether the government was alarmed because the information about the movements - rather, the alert - came from insiders who are generally considered to be reliable. The suspicions were raised because of the bitter factional battle which has raged in the Army for a while.

The sharp differences, which have been the subject of discussion within the Army as well as the defence ministry for over two years, hit a new high over the row over the Army chief General VK Singh's age, leaving an exasperated government scrambling to find ways to put a lid on the conflict, fearing that it might go out of hand.