Uttarakhand government withdraws order appointing journalist Dinesh Mansera as media advisor to CM

DEHRADUN: The Uttarakhand government has withdrawn its order appointing senior journalist Dinesh Mansera as advisor to Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat, just two days after issuing it.

The order appointing Mansera as media advisor to the chief minister was issued on May 17 and withdrawn on May 19 even before he could assume office.

The reason behind this sudden about-turn is understood to have been the manner in which social media reacted to his appointment.

Mansera's appointment to the post is said to have not gone down well with a section of the BJP leaders here as he had been critical of the Narendra Modi government in the past while he worked as a journalist with a national news channel for Kumaon region of Uttarakhand.

As the news of his appointment spread, social media began talking about his earlier tweets reflecting his critical views about the BJP government at the Centre.

It was alleged that he belonged to a particular section of the media and was close to a senior Congress leader from Uttarakhand who had also played a role in his appointment.

A fresh order was issued on Wednesday withdrawing the one by which Mansera had been appointed to the post.

Mansera also said in a tweet on Wednesday that his appointment though based on his experience as a journalist did not go down well with some people.

He said he refuses to accept the post as he cannot do his job in the midst of people who would not let him work.