 "BJP moves EC against PM's media advisor")
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday complained to the Election Commission (EC) against the prime minister’s media advisor for violating the model code of conduct.
In its complaint, the BJP said Pankaj Pachauri, the prime minister’s media advisor, had flouted the model code of conduct in his press conference held on Friday. The party alleged Pachauri had used the press conference to extol the achievements of the United Progressive Alliance government. This, the BJP said, violated section 7 of the EC’s model code of conduct, which barred a party in power from using its position to advertise its achievements at the expense of the public exchequer.
The BJP said Pachauri had organised the press conference on the pretext of controlling the damage to the Prime Minister’s Office from revelations in recently published books by Prime Minister Singh’s former media advisor Sanjaya Baru and former coal secretary P C Parakh. It alleged “instead of focusing on the context of the two books”, Pachauri had spent most of the conference publicising the prime minister’s achievements.
The party said Baru was within his rights to publish the book and didn’t violate the code. But Pachauri, the BJP argued, couldn’t “act in a juvenile manner”, thinking he, too, enjoyed the freedom Baru did. It said Pachauri had committed an “indiscretion” and should be chargesheeted under the rules of conduct for government servants and for wilful breach of the code.
“The PM also landed himself in the collateral responsibility of explaining this indiscretion,” the party said. It demanded the EC take “serious note” of the issue and “proceed against the concerned persons” for violating the code.
In its complaint, the BJP said Pankaj Pachauri, the prime minister’s media advisor, had flouted the model code of conduct in his press conference held on Friday. The party alleged Pachauri had used the press conference to extol the achievements of the United Progressive Alliance government. This, the BJP said, violated section 7 of the EC’s model code of conduct, which barred a party in power from using its position to advertise its achievements at the expense of the public exchequer.
The BJP said Pachauri had organised the press conference on the pretext of controlling the damage to the Prime Minister’s Office from revelations in recently published books by Prime Minister Singh’s former media advisor Sanjaya Baru and former coal secretary P C Parakh. It alleged “instead of focusing on the context of the two books”, Pachauri had spent most of the conference publicising the prime minister’s achievements.
The party said Baru was within his rights to publish the book and didn’t violate the code. But Pachauri, the BJP argued, couldn’t “act in a juvenile manner”, thinking he, too, enjoyed the freedom Baru did. It said Pachauri had committed an “indiscretion” and should be chargesheeted under the rules of conduct for government servants and for wilful breach of the code.
“The PM also landed himself in the collateral responsibility of explaining this indiscretion,” the party said. It demanded the EC take “serious note” of the issue and “proceed against the concerned persons” for violating the code.
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