Mallikarjun Kharge
Continuing the war of words with the Central govt over the state of affairs in country’s premier investigating agency CBI, senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and objected to the the appointment of M Nageswara Rao as the CBI’s interim director.
Kharge, Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha, termed Rao’s appointment as “illegal” and demanded that a meeting of the selection committe be convened immediately to appoint a new chief of the probe agency.
Kharge also alleged that the government is scared of CBI led by an “independent” director.
Mallikarjun Kharge is part of the prime minister-headed three-member panel that removed Alok Verma as CBI chief.
“Actions of the government indicate that it’s scared of a CBI headed by an independent director,” Kharge wrote in his letter to PM Modi.
He also demanded that the government comes clean on the issues and make public the CVC report, Justice A K Patnaik’s report and minutes of the January 10 meeting.
Rao’s appointment as CBI interim chief is “illegal”, the Congress leader wrote in the letter.
Barely two days after the Supreme Court reinstated him, Verma was Thursday last removed as CBI director by the high-powered committee headed by PM Modi on charges of corruption and dereliction of duty, in an unprecedented action in the central probe agency’s 55-year history.
There were eight charges against Verma in the CVC report presented before the committee that also comprised Kharge and Justice A K Sikri, appointed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi as his nominee.
(With PTI inputs)
