Age row: Govt readies ammo to battle Army Chief

New Delhi: In the latest move to take on Army Chief General VK Singh, the Ministry of Defence has prepared a list of army commanders who could succeed him.

According to reports, the list has even been sent by the ministry to the Prime Minister's Office.

Earlier on Tuesday, the government filed a caveat in the Supreme Court on the petition moved by General VK Singh on his age issue. Through the caveat, the government sought that the court should not pass an order before hearing it.

Following the move, Defence Minister A K Antony met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the issue, in a possible attempt to prepare to take on the Army Chief politically as well.

The government does not seem to be taking any chances and is also stiff on its stand of opposing General Singh's writ petition in the apex court.

Defence Secretary Shashikant Sharma has also been called back from Malaysia in view of the development related to Army Chief's action. Antony met the Prime Minister to discuss issue just hours after he held consultations with Attorney General GE Vahanvati.

The controversy over the date of birth of Indian Army Chief General VK Singh has pitted the military leadership against the Government. For the first time in the history of India a serving chief of an Indian defence force has moved the Supreme Court to restore what he claims is his "integrity and honour" and not about the tenure as is being pointed out by the Central Government and the Defence Ministry.

Meanwhile, the issue has also invited the wrath of the Opposition for the government with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which prides itself in holding the ex-serviceman as a close constituency, attacking the government for the mishandling.

"It is unfortunate the case has gone to the Supreme Court. It is government failure. If the government had stepped in earlier the issue would had been resolved by now," said BJP president Nitin Gadkari.

Once an ally, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav also slammed the government over the issue.

"It is a settled principle that in the event of a conflict, a government officer's matriculation certificate is the final word," said Prasad.