Was Goyal replaced as he wanted info on Naga peace deal, asks Cong

New Delhi, Aug 31: Congress today said that the sudden removal of L C Goyal as Union Home Secretary could be because of his seeking information on the Naga peace accord the Centre signed with NSCN (IM).

"Government may have got upset with him because of his seeking information on the Naga accord as the Home Ministry was not aware about the development. It could have been thought as to how he could dare...", senior party spokesman Anand Sharma told reporters.

Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his style of working, he noted that in the last 15 months two Home Secretaries of the government of India were "insulted and removed" and a Foreign Secretary was also sacked unceremoniously.

Sharma alleged that the Prime Minister's "authoritatian style of functioning and arbitrary decision-making undermines the cabinet form of governance. It is not a Presidential form of governance."

He charged that the Prime Minister, from day one, has started a policy which is "dangerous for modern India", in which his ministers don't know about the secretaries their departments are going to have.

"We can only take note of the unexpressed agony of the ministers who come to know about their secretaries through TV and newspapers only", he said. Congress, he said, also felt "sorry" for such an important post like Home Minister which Rajnath Singh is holding and who comes to know about things when the file comes from "top".

"We are commenting about governance, processes and about complete centralisation of power. Many uncomfortable questions have arisen under Narendra Modi government", he remarked.

He said that to run the administration smoothly, the earlier government had taken a conscious decision to have a fixed tenure for key bureaucrats like the Foreign Secretary and the Home Secretary but Modi government is "doing away with it".

Sharma's reaction came on a day when in a surprise development, senior IAS officer Rajiv Mehrishi, who was to retire today, was appointed as Union Home Secretary, replacing L C Goyal whose tenure abruptly ended 17 months before the completion of his two-year tenure.

Goyal had taken over as Home Secretary nearly seven months back on February 5 in place of Anil Goswami who was sacked after he allegedly tried to prevent CBI from arresting former Union Minister Matang Sinh in connection with Saradha chit fund scam case.

This is the third exit of a top bureaucrat much before the end of tenure during the tenure of Modi government . Apart from Goswami, Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh was eased out of her office in January, six months before the completion of her two-year tenure.

PTI