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Role of Parliamentary Secretaries questioned

JAIPUR: Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee president C. P. Joshi has questioned the role of Parliamentary Secretaries in the BJP-led Government in the State. “The Parliamentary Secretaries and the chairmen of various committees set up by the Government are infringing into areas meant for the members of the Council of Ministers,” he charged.

“The role of Parliamentary Secretaries is confined to the State Assembly premises. In Rajasthan they are functioning as ministers. There is no mention of Parliamentary Secretary in the Constitution when it talks about the Council of Ministers,” said Prof. Joshi interacting with the media over a luncheon programme, the first after his taking over as PCC president recently. PCC working president Parasram Mordia was also present.

“Parliamentary Secretary Bhawani Singh Rajawat, who is in charge of the Directorate of Information and Public Relations, is functioning as a full-time Minister. He has been looking after the aspects related to the media when media should have been aware of his untenable position,” Prof. Joshi pointed out.

He said other political appointees of the Vasundhara Raje Government, such as S. N. Gupta, chairman of the Public Grievances Redressal Committee, and Manickchand Surana, chairman of the State Finance Commission, too were going above board in many aspects of governance. “We have been pointing out this impropriety within and outside the State Assembly for many months but the Chief Minister seemingly does not care,” Prof. Joshi said.

Prof. Joshi said: "The Congress does not have the tradition of projecting anyone as Chief Minister prior to the elections. It is a tradition accepted by the party men,” he said.

He refused to comment on the controversial issue of senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh allegedly offering opium to guests at a get-together in his ancestral village.

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