Letter leak is a wake up call for forces, country: BSP

BSP on Thursday termed the recent controversy surrounding the leakage of the army chief's letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as a "wake up call" for the country and defence forces, and sought to know the preparedness of armed forces from the government.

"This is a very serious issue. But who has leaked the letter is not an issue. The question is whether we are prepared to face the enemy. We want to know what is our level of our preparedness," BSP MP Vijay Bahadur Singh told reporters outside Parliament.

The UPA government found itself in a tight spot after General VK Singh's letter to the Prime Minister highlighting major shortcomings in the country's defence preparedness appeared in the media.

"General is not the main issue. The main issue is our preparedness. It is a wake up call for the nation and defence forces. Our border situation is not very comfortable. So we should take this very seriously and decide what to do," he said.

Referring to the Chinese invasion in 1962, Singh said, "We lost the war due to our lack of preparedness. General has raised issues about our preparedness and quality of defence equipment and ammunition. So government must tell the nation about the status of our preparedness."

RJD chief Lalu Prasad, however, said the Army chief has lost his credibility.

"He has been discredited the whole country and no one in the country is believing him," Prasad said.