BHOPAL: Host of political appointments to constitutional posts by embattled Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh over last three days prompted the opposition BJP to raise the issue before Governor Lalji Tandon on Tuesday.
A BJP delegation, which included Leader of Opposition Gopal Bhargava, ex-CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan and state party chief VD Sharma met the Governor at Raj Bhawan and questioned how can such political appointments be made to key constitutional posts by a government which no longer enjoys majority in Vidhan Sabha.
"The two letters written by the Governor to the CM recently proved that the present government has lost majority, but is avoiding holding floor test in the Vidhan Sabha by making different excuses. While the the government hasn't held floor test as directed by the Governor, it has been shamelessly been making political appointments in Governor's name to key constitutional posts having fixed tenure," alleged Chouhan.
"How can a government make such crucial appointments, when it doesn't hold majority in the Vidhan Sabha following the March 10 resignation by 22 Congress MLAs," questioned Bhargava. "We've demanded that the Governor nullifies these appointments. The Governor has taken the matter seriously and promised us action over it," said state BJP chief VD Sharma. Importantly, the state government has appointed host of Congress leaders to constitutional posts over last three days.
It started with appointment of Congress leaders Ramu Tekam (who lost 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Betul seat) and Rashid Sohail Siddiqui (ex-chairman of Jabalpur Development Authority) as MP Public Service Commission (MPPSC) members on Sunday.
On Monday, more such appointments, including state Congress media-in-charge Shobha Oza as State Women's Commission chief, former MP Anand Ahirwar as Chairman of State Commission for Scheduled Caste and another Congress leader Abhay Tiwari as State Youth Commission chairman were made.
Further, state Congress spokesperson and advocate JP Dhanopiya was appointed as chairman of state OBC Commission on Tuesday. All these posts carry fixed three years term and once appointed the incumbent cannot be changed even on change of regime in the state.
On Monday night, the state government appointed 1985 batch IAS officer M Gopal Reddy as state's Chief Secretary, while the incumbent Chief Secretary SR Mohanty (who retires on March 31) was shifted as head of State Administration Academy in Bhopal.
State BJP spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal questioned, if the Kamal Nath government is so confident about having majority in Vidhan Sabha why is it in such haste to make the appointments to key constitutional posts.
"When the government didn't make those appointments in last 14 months, what is the hurry for them now. Is the Congress government alive to the realty that it's in its last days, so it's making all these appointments in hurry," questioned Agrawal.
Senior state Congress leader and CM's media coordinator Narendra Saluja countered the BJP allegations, saying that all appointments have been made in line with existing rules. "If BJP thinks rules have been violated, then they should petition the court," said Saluja.