Jaya, Swamy blast Centre

it is deeply regrettable that an action with incalculable consequences on the morale and determination of the armed forces was taken without even the Cabinet being consulted,” she said in the three-page statement.

Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister ParkashSingh Badal denied the allegation that the naval chief was sacked under pressure from his party, Akali Dal, a constituent of the ruling coalition.

Maintaining that government should treat the armed forces with respect and sensitivity, Jayalalitha said “sadly, this does not appear to have been followed in the unceremonious dismissal of the chief of naval staff”.

After the action, she said, it had been officially claimed that national security was involved. In case Admiral Bhagwat was in fact a danger to the security of the country, then he should have been given a show cause notice and an opportunity to defend himself before punitive action was taken.

“Further, it is difficult to believe that an officer who was appointed to the highest post in the Indian navy on September 30, 1996, could have got this distinction if he had indeed been guilty of the charge being made so casually against him,” she said.

Jayalalitha referred to Bhagwat’s reputation of being a strategic thinker who was responsible forlong-term planning perspective and the `cooked up’ ISRO case in which top scientists working on the cryogenic engine programme were framed and said “’it has to be determined whether Admiral Bhagwat is a victim of forces that do not want the Indian navy to modernise”.

Jayalalitha said the 1957 Navy Act was very clear on just how a deputy chief of naval staff should get selected and added after reading remarks made by the defence ministry’s `favoured candidate’ it was clear that Admiral Bhagwat may have had good reasons to refuse to accept this officer.

"If it is true that the first action of the new naval chief was to approve this officer as the deputy chief of naval staff, then it adds weight to the charge that personalities and not policies were behind the unseemly dismissal of Admiral Bhagwat”, she said.

"I call upon the Prime Minister to reveal to the nation the reasons why he publicly stated that Admiral Bhagwat’s continuance as naval chief was a danger to national security”, Jayalalitha saidrequesting Vajpayee to constitute an independent forum of retired chiefs of staff to go into the charges and see whether they were genuine.

Asserting that the armed forces should be treated with respect and consideration, the AIADMK chief said personal or political motives should not dictate the choice and removal of officers.

Again demanding a commission of retired chiefs of staff to determine whether Bhagwat was fairly or unjustly treated, she said “this is too serious an action to be confined to the closed doors of the government. The nation has a right to be informed about the truth”.

Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy too charged the government with committing `gross impropriety’ in sacking Bhagwat and demanded a judicial probe into it.

Demanding a `white paper’ documenting charges against the sacked naval chief, Swamy, at a press conference here, said the probe should also find out whether there was any LTTE pressure on Defence Minister George Fernandes to remove him.