Army sources say that Gen Kapoor is in an embarrassing position. Antony’s directive is in a way a message that Kapoor had either erred or has been partial in not ordering court martial of Lt Gen Avadesh Prakash.
But Army sources say that Gen Kapoor would have taken the total picture into consideration in ordering only administrative action against Lt Gen Avadesh Prakash. Sources are quick to point out that the successor of Gen Kapoor, Lt Gen V K Singh had gone a step further in recommending the sacking of Prakash.
Said a top retired Army officer: “He (Kapoor) has a set of advisors and experts before he takes a final call. I feel he would have taken a decision keeping the highest values in the Army. It is no doubt embarrassing when the senior most General in the Army is over-ruled. It will affect the morale among senior officers.”
Now, the next tricky step will come from Gen Kapoor. There are five possibilities. It should be remembered here that there is no precedent where a Defence Minister has disagreed with his Army chief on a scandal. There have been disagreements in the past on operational matters ever since Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s famous disagreement with his Army chief on the China episode and Indira Gandhi’s decision on calling a ceasefire in the Indo-Pak war.
