BJP defends move to seek ouster of NDMA head and members

New Delhi, June 20: BJP today justified NDA government's move to seek the ouster of heads and members of NDMA and said they should quit with the change of guard at the Centre.

Party spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said senior members and heads of the panel have to decide for themselves as the Prime Minister through whom their appointments were done is no longer in power.

"When their Prime Minister is no longer there and they were appointed through him and they contested election and they did politics, then they have to take decisions about themselves", he said.

After some Governors, it was the turn of Vice-Chairman of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) M Shashidhar Reddy and five of its members to resign after the new government asked them to quit their posts.

The government has also reportedly asked Chairpersons and members of various Commissions like National Commission for Women, SCs and STs and the head of Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) to resign but there was no official confirmation. Speaking on the IB report on NGO Greenpeace, Hussain said "no foreign force has the right to intervene in the progress of India".

"The entire (IB) report is with the government. The government has taken note of it and will consider it. No foreign force has the right to intervene in the progress of India. How we will progress, the right lies with us," Hussain said.

The central agency in a fresh report, submitted to the Prime Minister's Office and National Security Adviser, recommended cancellation of permission given to Greenpeace for collecting funds abroad besides reassessment of its tax compliance.

Greenpeace has termed as "malicious" the Intelligence Bureau's two reports against it and said it has been "specifically targeted" as it emerged as one of the primary voices opposing coal mining and nuclear power projects in India.

PTI