Modi ‘devotee’ barred from poll duty

A senior official in the office of the State Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said on Saturday that the EC faxed a letter to the state chief secretary in the evening,ordering that Jhalavadia be removed from poll duty. The Commission has asked the chief secretary to suggest a panel of three IAS officers out of whom one could be selected to replace Jhalavadia as the Amreli collector.

Jay Narayan Vyas,state minister and BJP spokesperson,had later defended him,saying he is a fair man. He even pointed out that Jhalavadia had recently issued notices to Agriculture Minister Dilip Sanghani for violating the Model Code of Conduct.

Modhwadia told Newsline that at one point of time,the BJP was even considering the name of Jhalavadia to contest the Amreli Lok Sabha seat. The controversial collector had,however,turned down the offer,saying he still has a long time to spend in the civil services.

Earlier in its representation,the GPCC had drawn the attention of the EC to the incident wherein Jhalavadia had reportedly touched the feet of Modi and even vacated a chair for him after receiving a Rs 1-crore cheque for the development of the district.

The event was organised to celebrate the Gujarat Foundation Day on May 1,2008 at Amreli town. Apart from ministers and bureaucrats,state BJP top brass was also present on the dais when the incident occurred.

The Congress had also complained about the “proximity” of the 1998-batch IAS officer to the ruling BJP.

Hailing from a village in Una taluka of neighbouring Junagadh district,Jhalavadia,promoted from the state services,had served as collector in Narmada and Kheda districts before coming to Amreli.