Wife seeks Cong ticket, IAS officer may face repatriation

For Pankaj Dwivedi, a 1970 batch Andhra Pradesh cadre IAS officer presently on a three-year deputation to Chhattisgarh, the threat of premat...

For Pankaj Dwivedi, a 1970 batch Andhra Pradesh cadre IAS officer presently on a three-year deputation to Chhattisgarh, the threat of premature repatriation to his home cadre looms large.

The reason: His wife Neerja Dwivedi wants a Congress ticket to contest the upcoming Assembly elections. In his complaint to the Chief Minister, Congress heavyweight and Speaker Rajendra Prashad Shukla accused Dwivedi of lobbying for his wife.

Incidentally, Neerja Dwivedi happens to be the daughter of former PCC president (late) Mathura Prashad Dubey. She is an active party member and is keen to get the ticket for the Kota Assembly seat which is currently represented by Shukla. It is her political activism, particularly her resolve to replace the ageing Shukla that has created problems for her husband.

Dwivedi is among a dozen all India service officers who — after the formation of Chhattisgarh — was sent here on deputation. But he is the only bureaucrat who is being recalled prematurely — he still has over one and a half year to go.

Says Dwivedi: ‘‘I don’t have any links with the politics. My wife has been politically active for the past 15 years. Why my name is being dragged into this controversy, I can’t understand.’’

He names over a dozen IAS and IPS officers whose spouses have been MPs, MLAs and ministers. But, it’s not only Shukla who complained against Dwivedi for promoting his wife and interfering in his constituency — Dwivedi is also on the BJP’s hit list. The Opposition BJP has also compiled a list of IAS and IPS officers for lodging a complaint with the EC for working ‘‘against service and conduct rules’’.

Now, Dwivedi, also the Principal Secretary GAD and Personnel, is making efforts to ensure that he completes his tenure. ‘‘The government has written to the Centre pleading them to let me complete the deputation,’’ he says. Even as there are reports about the Centre having sent word to state Chief Secretary to relieve Dwivedi for his return to the parent cadre, he claims ‘‘no fresh communication has been received “.