New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Manish Tewari on Sunday stood by his claim on unnotified troop movement in 2012, even after it was rubbished by his own party and the ruling BJP.
"I have nothing to add or subtract to what I said yesterday," Tewari told reporters a day after his comment caused a storm in political circles.
Tewari had said that a 2012 media report on two military units moving towards the national capital -- at a time when there was a standoff between the then Army chief VK Singh and the UPA government -- was "unfortunately true".
The Congress snubbed him for speaking out of turn, the BJP dismissed it as a dead issue and VK Singh, now a union minister, called him "jobless".
Congress spokesperson PC Chacko said, "I think there is no reason for Mr Tiwari to believe it is true. Congress party denies this report. I think this is an unnecessary controversy being created."
Another party spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi was even more sharp in rejecting Tewari's claim.
"Whatever Manish Tewari has said is not true. He is not the official spokesperson of the party. He should not have done this and this is the stand of the party. He was neither a member of the cabinet committee on security nor of any relevant decision making body to make such comments," Singhvi said.
The BJP questioned Tewari's silence on the issue over the last three years.
"I have read the story and my only question is why was Manish quiet for all these years and that too when his own government was denying any such incident."
VK Singh mocked the former Congress minister asking him to read his book 'Courage and Conviction' to know the truth.
"Manish Tewari doesn't have any work now. I have written a book and I would ask him to read it. Everything would be clarified then," the minister said.
Tewari was a member of Paliament's Standing Committee for Defence in 2012, but other members of that panel rejected his version.
Former parliamentarian Satpal Maharaj ,who was chief of the committee said they came to know of a "regular movement of the army."
Another former member, union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, denied discussing any such incident then.
But support for Tewari came from Congress MP Mani Shankar Aiyar who said Singh should be sacked from the ministry.
"As far as it seems something has happened against our Constitution and democracy, and such a man is made a minister today. There can't be a bigger mistake than that," Aiyar said.
The report , published in the Indian Express in April 2012, said two key military units -- from the 33rd Armoured Division based in Hisar and the airborne 50 Para Brigade based in Agra -- were seen moving towards Delhi on January 16 that year without informing the government.
This was allegedly on a day General Singh approached the Supreme Court over the tussle with the government on his retirement age.
Former editor-in-chief of The Indian Express Shekhar Gupta said the report has now been vindicated.
"The story was confirmed by then DGMO. Former UPA ministers including Manmohan Singh should speak on this issue. There should be a robust debate on this topic,"he said.
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