Check ideological background before appointing people in govt: BJP to states

This picture has been used for representational purpose

The Central leadership of the BJP has advised all the party-ruled state governments to conduct proper ideological background check of any individual before giving him/her any position in the government. Though sources in the saffron camp claim that this is a verbal advisory and not a written one, the BJP-ruled states have been asked to do background check of individuals before appointing them to government positions, including their political opinions and previous actions related to the government as well as the party.

A proper scrutiny of social media platforms being used by such individuals must be done, including the opinions they express about the Narendra Modi-led government, the BJP, the RSS as well as their political opponents, sources said. The move follows a controversy that erupted in Madhya Pradesh over the appointment of Tushar Panchal as the Communication Advisor/Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Within a day of his appointment, Tushar announced on Twitter that he would not join the team of the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister.

A senior BJP leader aware of the development said: "The state government gave an offer to an individual for a key position in the government. After facing criticism for his old social media posts, he refused to accept it. But the refusal came after the intervention of the central leadership." A Madhya Pradesh BJP leader said that the central leadership had asked as to how a man, who had criticised Prime Minister Modi, the party (BJP) and the RSS, can be made part of the government. It is learnt that the Central leadership has advised to take corrective steps to avoid any further embarrassment.

After the Madhya Pradesh fiasco, the party's top leadership took the decision to communicate to all the BJP-ruled states to go conduct a proper ideological background check of individuals before making them part of the government. "Giving official positions in the government to such individuals, whose opinions against the Prime Minister and the party are available on social media platforms and are known to the public, does not look good and causes huge embarrassment," a party insider said.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever