<p>Former Union minister and Congress leader Manish Tewari has put his party in the dock by claiming that media reports of “unexpected” and “non-notified” troop movements in 2012 were “correct”.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Tewari’s comments at a book release function on Saturday had both the Congress and the BJP rushing to snub the former minister for reviving a controversy that was long considered dead.<br /><br />In April 2012, a report in the Indian Express of “non-notified” troop movement towards Delhi from Agra and Hisar had stopped short of suggesting an Army coup at a time when the then Army chief General V K Singh was locked in a court battle over his date of birth.<br /><br />“At that time, I used to serve in the Standing Committee of Defence. And it’s unfortunate, but the story was true. The story was correct. I am not getting into an argument. All I am saying is that to the best of my knowledge that story was correct,” Tewari said. <br />Senior BJP leader Siddarth Nath Singh wondered why Tewari was raising an issue which the UPA government has itself dismissed. <br /><br />“This throws up many questions which must be addressed by the Congress,” he said.<br /><br /><br />Congress fielded its spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi to disown Tewari as well as his comments which appear to put the then defence minister A K Antony in the dock. Antony had then told Parliament that the troop movement was routine and the media report was based on “wrong inferences, surmises and conjectures”.<br /><br />“He (Tewari) is neither the authorised spokesperson of the party, nor the spokesperson on foreign or defence affairs, nor privy to any of the committees or decision-making group,” Singhvi told reporters here.<br /><br />V K Singh, now a Union Minister, dismissed Tewari’s remarks saying it had come from a person “who has nothing to do these days”.<br /><br />Tewari, who became the Minister for Information and Broadcasting in October 2012, stood his ground. “I have nothing more to add or subtract to what I have said,” he told reporters in Chandigarh.<br /></p>
<p>Former Union minister and Congress leader Manish Tewari has put his party in the dock by claiming that media reports of “unexpected” and “non-notified” troop movements in 2012 were “correct”.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Tewari’s comments at a book release function on Saturday had both the Congress and the BJP rushing to snub the former minister for reviving a controversy that was long considered dead.<br /><br />In April 2012, a report in the Indian Express of “non-notified” troop movement towards Delhi from Agra and Hisar had stopped short of suggesting an Army coup at a time when the then Army chief General V K Singh was locked in a court battle over his date of birth.<br /><br />“At that time, I used to serve in the Standing Committee of Defence. And it’s unfortunate, but the story was true. The story was correct. I am not getting into an argument. All I am saying is that to the best of my knowledge that story was correct,” Tewari said. <br />Senior BJP leader Siddarth Nath Singh wondered why Tewari was raising an issue which the UPA government has itself dismissed. <br /><br />“This throws up many questions which must be addressed by the Congress,” he said.<br /><br /><br />Congress fielded its spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi to disown Tewari as well as his comments which appear to put the then defence minister A K Antony in the dock. Antony had then told Parliament that the troop movement was routine and the media report was based on “wrong inferences, surmises and conjectures”.<br /><br />“He (Tewari) is neither the authorised spokesperson of the party, nor the spokesperson on foreign or defence affairs, nor privy to any of the committees or decision-making group,” Singhvi told reporters here.<br /><br />V K Singh, now a Union Minister, dismissed Tewari’s remarks saying it had come from a person “who has nothing to do these days”.<br /><br />Tewari, who became the Minister for Information and Broadcasting in October 2012, stood his ground. “I have nothing more to add or subtract to what I have said,” he told reporters in Chandigarh.<br /></p>