Govt using senior officers for propaganda not right: Kharge

KALABURGI: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday hit out at the Bharatiya Janta Party-led Centre over its "saturation drive" saying that the government deploying senior officers for propaganda of their programs is not right and has never happened before.

As per a purported government order, dated October 18, under the Centre's saturation drive senior bureaucrats will be deployed as "Rath Prabharis" across the country to showcase the achievements of the 9 years of the government. The Congress chief wrote a letter to PM Modi on Sunday urging him to withdraw the order immediately.

"I wrote to the Prime Minister to look into this...This has never happened before...If the government uses senior officers for the propaganda of their programs, it is not right. The governments of the future can continue doing this. This is your program, use your volunteers and your people..." Kharge told ANI.

Earlier on Sunday, the Congress president in his letter to PM Modi said, "They are to be deployed as Rath Prabharis to showcase the achievements of the last 9 years of the Government of India. It is no coincidence that the last nine years correspond to your tenure in office. This is of grave concern for multiple reasons."

Reacting to it, BJP national president JP Nadda said that it is baffling for him to see the Congress party having an issue with public servants reaching the grassroots. Taking to the social media platform, the BJP chief on Sunday said, "It maybe an alien concept to the Congress Party, but public service delivery is the duty of a Government. If the Modi Govt wants to ensure saturation of all schemes and ensure all beneficiaries are reached, nobody who has the interest of the poor in his mind can have a problem. But Congress only has an interest in keeping the poor in poverty and hence their opposition to the saturation drive."

"It baffles me to see the Congress Party have an issue with public servants reaching the grassroots to ensure saturation of schemes. If this not the basic tenet of governance, what is? Regarding opposition to a 'Rath' it is a fit use of public resources unlike using warships as personal yachts," he added.

Moreover, Kharge, in his letter, said, "If senior officers of departments are deputed for the marketing activities of the current government, the governance of our country will grind to a halt for the next six months".