Minister of State for Overseas Indians Affairs General (retd.)VK Singh on Sunday alleged that some sections of the media are hand in glove with corrupt arms dealers, and are thus attempting to portray him in bad light.
"I crossed swords with the arms lobbies, arms dealers and those called as 'dalals' in this country... There are lots of people who do not like me, and unfortunately there are some in the media who have been doing a tango with them and are espousing their cause... Such people are in cahoots with these arms dealers," General Singh told ANI.
"As I said during the elections, there were definite rumours of money being pumped by the arms dealers. So when controversies come up, I always suspect that there is a hand of this arms lobby behind it," he added.
The former chief of Army staff further said that he was being targeted because he is 'not for sale'.
"I cannot be bought; I am not a buyable commodity. And therefore they feel that they have to do something so that either I am bought or I am broken," he said.
On Tuesday, General Singh had stoked a controversy with his criticism of the media by referring to it as 'presstitutes'.
The former army chief's remark was followed by his contentious statement that visiting the Pakistani High Commission was more exciting than conducting the rescue operations in Yemen.