‘Can there be so much smoke without any fire?’ Congress swipe at BJP after Bhupender Yadav’s close aides are removed

The Congress party on Tuesday took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Union government over the removal of key aides of Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav from his office.

The Opposition party asked if this could be an instance of the “Pradhan Mantri Chanda Do Dhandha Lo” scheme having gone wrong.

The opposition party’s dig came after the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change relieved the private secretary and three additional secretaries of their duties from Yadav’s office.

“It is no secret how such appointments are made in the first place during the Modi regime. Can there be so much smoke without any fire? Could this be an instance of the Pradhan Mantri Chanda Do Dhandha Lo scheme having gone awry?” Ramesh asked on X.

What is the controversy?

While private secretary Amar Singh was removed on “administrative grounds”, the appointment of additional private secretary Ayush Saran was terminated, and additional private secretary Shailesh Kumar Singh was “prematurely repatriated to his parent cadre , i.e. Department of Personnel and Training”.

The decision was made through three different orders – all of them dated July 3.

The Congress has often used the ‘Chanda Do Dhandha Lo’ refrain in the past for alleging that the BJP collected donations under the electoral bonds scheme and, in return, promised official tenders and contracts.