"Blatant use of officials for individual's political propaganda": Jairam Ramesh fires barb at BJP over 'Saturation Drive'

New Delhi [India]: Firing a fresh salvo at the ruling BJP over its saturation drive across the country, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Monday said the "blatant" use of officials for an individual's "personal political propaganda" is a major talking point ahead of the upcoming electoral battles.

Taking to his personal handle on 'X', Ramesh posted, "@ECISVEEP (Election Commission of India), acting on the complaint of @INCIndia has banned the Modi government from appointing senior civil service officers as "Rathprabharis" in election-bound states. This is a welcome step. But the larger issue of blatant use of officials for an individual's personal political propaganda still remains".

"It is now clear that the Prime Minister is in no mood to pay attention to the letter written to him by @Kharge ji on October 22 regarding keeping civil service officers and soldiers away from politics. In such a situation, the Congress Party will use all the options available to end this completely unacceptable and dangerous process that is weakening and endangering the country's democracy," he added in his post.

As per a government order dated October 18, under the Centre's saturation drive, senior bureaucrats were to be deployed as "Rath Prabharis" across the country to showcase the achievements of the nine years of the BJP-led NDA's rule at the Centre.

However, following a notice by the Election Commission to the BJP in this regard, the party decided to send the officials to the non-poll-bound states -- where the Model of Conduct is not in force.

Congress Cheif Mallikarjun Kharge, earlier, wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to withdraw the order immediately.

"I wrote to the Prime Minister to look into this. This has never happened before. It is not right for the government to use senior officers for their propaganda. It would set a bad precedent as succeeding governments could do the same. The BJP should use its own office-bearers and supporters to carry forward its programmes," Kharge told media.

Earlier, the Congress president, in his letter to PM Modi, stated, "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."

Responding to the same, BJP national president JP Nadda said it baffled him to see the Congress having an issue with public servants reaching the grassroots.

Taking to his official social media handle, the BJP chief said, "It may be 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."