NEW DELHI: The Congress on Tuesday took a swipe at the government over the removal of key aides of Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav from his office, asking whether this could be an instance of the “Pradhan Mantri Chanda Do Dhandha Lo” scheme having gone wrong.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said that the news of the sacking of four members of Yadav’s staff is shocking.
The opposition party’s dig came after the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change relieved the private secretary and three additional secretaries of their duties from Yadav’s office.
“It is no secret how such appointments are made in the first place during the Modi regime. Can there be so much smoke without any fire? Could this be an instance of the Pradhan Mantri Chanda Do Dhandha Lo scheme having gone awry?” Ramesh asked on X.
Three separate office orders issued by the ministry on July 3 to effect the changes.
The first order “terminated with immediate effect” the appointment of Ayush Saran, Additional Private Secretary to Yadav. The second order repatriated Shailesh Kumar Singh, a Central Secretariat Service officer, who also served as Additional Private Secretary to Yadav, to his parent cadre at the Department of Personnel and Training, with what the order described as an “extended cooling off” period.
The third order sent Amar Singh, an Indian Revenue Service officer from the 2010 batch, who served as the minister’s private secretary, back to his parent cadre at the Department of Revenue “on administrative grounds”.
All four orders were copied to the Prime Minister’s Office, the Cabinet Secretariat, and the Department of Personnel and Training, among others.
The Congress has often used the ‘Chanda Do Dhandha Lo’ refrain in the past for alleging that the BJP collected donations under the electoral bonds scheme and in return promised official tenders and contracts.
