New Delhi: Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday expressed strong objections to the selection process for the next IBI chief at a high-level panel meeting led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said he did not want to be part of a “biased exercise”.In his two-page dissent, he claimed that the government has reduced the electoral process to a formality and the Leader of Opposition (LoP) cannot be a rubber stamp.“By denying the Selection Committee important information, the government has reduced it to a mere formality. The Leader of the Opposition is not a rubber stamp.“I cannot abdicate my constitutional obligations by participating in such a biased exercise. Therefore, I express my objection in the strongest possible terms,” Gandhi said in his objection submitted to the prime minister during the meeting.The panel headed by the Prime Minister, including Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Gandhi, met at the Prime Minister’s official residence, 7 Lok Kalyan Marg.Gandhi also accused the government of misusing the chief investigative agency to target opposition leaders, journalists and critics.“I am writing to you in my capacity as Chairman of the committee established to recommend the next Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to record my objections to its procedures. Your government has repeatedly abused the CBI, which is intended to be India’s premier investigative agency, to target political opponents, journalists and critics.“It is to prevent this institutional capture that the Leader of the Opposition was included in the Selection Committee. Regrettably, you continue to refuse to allow me to play any meaningful role in this process,” he said in his dissent.The LoP said that despite repeated written requests, he was not provided with self-evaluation reports or 360-degree reports from qualified candidates.“Instead, I should have inspected the assessment records of the 69 candidates for the first time during the committee meeting. The 360-degree report was flatly rejected,” he said.
Negotiations to select CBI chairman ended in just 5 minutes
Sources said the meeting ended after five minutes as Rahul Gandhi did not participate in the name discussion. The remaining 35 minutes were spent asking questions about Iran and other issues. Rahul said this deliberate denial of information without legal basis made a mockery of the selection process and would ensure that only “your pre-decided candidates get selected”. “I cannot abdicate my constitutional obligations by engaging in biased activities,” Rahul said in his post on X. The Leader of the Opposition is not a rubber stamp. “
