With Lt-General Manoj Pande set to take over as the next Army chief from General M M Naravane on Saturday, Lt-Gen Baggavalli Somashekar Raju (Lt-Gen BS Raju) will take over as deputy leader of the 12-thousand-strong army.
Lt-Gen BS Raju, a qualified helicopter pilot who was commissioned into the Jat Regiment in December 1984, is currently the director-general of military operations.
During the ongoing military confrontation in eastern Ladakh, he oversaw the Army’s overall operational readiness along the 3,488-km Line of Actual Control with China.
Though it is unusual for a Lieutenant General to become Vice Chief without first serving as the GOC-in-Chief of one of the Army’s six regional and one training commands, there have been a few examples in the past.
Gen Sunith Francis Rodrigues, who died last month, rose through the ranks from vice chief to head of the Central and Western Commands before becoming Army commander in 1990. The vice chief and the GOC-in-Cs of the seven Army commands are of the same rank as senior Lt-Gens.
Lt-Gen BS Raju commands his battalion during Operation Parakram
Lt-Gen BS Raju, who will take over as vice chief on Sunday, commanded his battalion in the western theatre and in Jammu and Kashmir during Operation Parakram.
He commanded the Uri brigade, a counter-insurgency unit, and then the critical 15 ‘Chinar Corps in the Kashmir Valley. In Bhutan, he was also the commandant of the Indian Military Training Team.
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