"Blaming past govt for his failures": Ashok Chavan responds to Fadnavis' claims on contractual hiring

Senior Congress leader Ashok Chavan has rejected the claim made by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis that the recruitment of staff on a contract basis in government departments was initiated by previous state governments. Earlier, Fadnavis had announced the cancellation of a government order intended for the recruitment of staff on a contract basis by nine agencies.

Addressing a press conference, Fadnavis stated that the first recruitment on a contractual basis occurred in 2003 when the Congress-NCP government was in power in Maharashtra. He said GRs (government resolutions) related to contractual hiring were issued when Congress leaders Ashok Chavan and Prithviraj Chavan were chief ministers during the 15-year rule of the Democratic Front (DF) coalition (1999-2014).

In response, Chavan, a former chief minister, accused the current government of attempting to fill even tehsildar and police positions on a contractual basis.

“Now the government tried to fill even tehsildar, and police posts on a contractual basis. Fadnavis is trying to put the failure of his regime on previous governments. Today the state is in financial crisis and instead of focusing on administrative matters, old contexts are being taken out just to criticise previous governments.” The scrapping of contractual recruitment was a victory of students who had protested against such a government order, Chavan added.

Chavan said decisions taken by earlier governments were as per the prevailing situation, adding that his party was not opposed to privatisation throughout.  But all decisions must be taken after thorough deliberations, Chavan asserted.