NEW DELHI: Almost the entire media team of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) was transferred from the strategic ministry to other government departments on Friday, a week after the official MHA Facebook page put up pictures of whisky bottles along with photos of NDRF rescue efforts in Bengal during cyclone Amphan. The reason for reshuffling was not known immediately.
The new team of MHA spokespersons will now be led by senior Indian Information Service (IIS) officer Nitin D Wakankar, who became the media face of CBI when it was battling negative perception in the aftermath of a turf war between then-agency chief Alok Verma and his deputy Rakesh Asthana.
Wakankar replaces Vasudha Gupta, who has been shifted to Director General of the fact check unit working under the Press Information Bureau. Both Gupta and Wakankar are DG rank officers. A 1989 batch IIS officer, Wakankar was working as DG at the Bureau of Outreach and Communications of the Press Information Bureau (PIB)
Before that, Wakankar served as spokesperson of the CBI besides having two stints as Deputy Press Secretary with Presidents APJ Abdul Kalam and Pratibha Patil. He has also served as spokesperson of the Defence Ministry and also headed Mumbai region in various capacities during his career. IIS officers Rajkumar and Amandeep Yadav have been appointed as Additional Director General (ADG) and Assistant Director in the media wing of the MHA.