Thiruvananthapuram (Keralam) [India], May 23 (ANI): A controversy has erupted after the UDF government in Keralam on Saturday appointed State Chief Electoral Officer Rathan U Kelkar as the Secretary to Chief Minister VD Satheesan.
“Dr. Rathan U Kelkar IAS (KL 2003), Chief Electoral Officer, Kerala & Secretary, Election Department, is transferred and posted as Secretary to the Chief Minister,” the government order read.
However, the move was met with criticism from the Bharatiya Janata Party, which invoked Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s remarks over freedom of the Election Commission, and alleged that Kelkar’s appointment was a “reward” for the party’s victory in the Keralam Assembly elections.
Rahul Gandhi had strongly criticised the BJP government in West Bengal for appointing the State Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Kumar Agarwal as the Chief Secretary.
Keralam BJP posted on Facebook, “Ratan Kelkar, the former Chief Electoral Officer of Kerala, has been appointed as the Secretary to Chief Minister VD Satheesan. According to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s logic, Ratan Kelkar’s appointment is to be seen as a reward for the huge victory achieved by the Congress in Kerala. The Congress should stop this kind of politics that is misleading the people.”
BJP’s West Bengal co-incharge Amit Malviya slammed the move.
Malviya wrote on X, “Rahul Gandhi’s selective outrage stands exposed yet again. He chose to criticise West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari for appointing Shri Manoj Agarwal as Chief Secretary. But unlike Mamata Banerjee, who repeatedly subverted the bureaucracy by superseding dozens of IAS officers to favour loyalists, the BJP government in West Bengal appointed the senior-most IAS officer serving in the state, strictly in accordance with established norms and service rules.”
“Now compare that with Congress-ruled Kerala. Ratan U Kelkar, a 2003-batch Kerala cadre IAS officer who is not even the senior-most officer in the state, is being appointed Secretary to Chief Minister V D Satheean while continuing as Kerala’s Chief Electoral Officer, a position that demands institutional neutrality and independence. So where is Rahul Gandhi’s sermon on institutional propriety now? Or does his outrage depend entirely on which party is in power?” the post read.
UDF, led by Congress, recorded a big victory in the polls by securing 102 seats. Congress emerged as the largest party with 63 seats, and VD Satheesan took oath as the new CM of Keralam. (ANI)