What the armed forces think of the controversial army chief Gen VK Singh, who is retiring tomorrow.

Retired Lt Gen Shankar Prasad: "History has not spared Jawaharlal Nehru, it did not spare Winston Churchill either. History will not spare even Gen V K Singh either.

"I think it will take 26 years to get things back on track after the 26-month tenure of Gen V K Singh comes to an end. I think the best thing to do at this moment would be let the man retire and say goodbye and farewell to him," Lt Gen Prasad said.

Gen Singh's predecessor Gen Deepak Kapoor: The next incumbent will have to work "very hard" to restore functional relationship between the Defence Ministry and the Army Headquarters. Along with this the next Army Chief will have to improve the morale of the troops and the preparedness of the armed
forces.

Former Western Air Commander A K Singh: "His biggest achievement has been highlighting the rampant corruption in the military and the Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs). If I have to underline his negative sides, I would say that his strong stand on his date of birth was not justified. He forgot that he had accepted 1950 earlier as the date when he was taking benefits. This was the biggest blot on his tenure."