New Delhi: Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday met President Pratibha Patil to register BJP's protest on the appointment of Telecom Secretary P J Thomas as Central Vigilance Commissioner despite a dissent note from her.
Sources said Swaraj apprised the President about the manner in which Thomas was chosen despite strong disagreement voiced by her at the meeting of the appointing panel which included the Prime Minister and the Home Minister, besides the BJP leader.
P J Thomas appointed new Central Vigilance Commissioner
The principal opposition, which had termed the appointment as "scandalous", on Tuesday boycotted the swearing-in ceremony of the new CVC. Thomas, it had alleged, was earlier embroiled in a Palm oil scam. He was later given a clean chit.
On Monday, the BJP had appealed to the President not to sign the appointment letter of Thomas.
As per the rules, the CVC is chosen by a panel comprising the Prime Minister, Home Minister and Leader of Opposition.
Though the government had presented a panel of three names, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidambaram reportedly insisted that Thomas should be chosen.
In an interaction with the press on Monday, Swaraj had said that she told Singh and Chidambaram that since they had chosen the panel, she should be "given the liberty to choose the candidate.
"When they did not agree I told them that I am not blacklisting Thomas and if the government wants it can reward him with some other post but not CVC," Swaraj said.
She further maintained that her suggestion to enlarge the three-member panel to include more probable candidates was also turned down by the government.
"The PM and Home Minister also insisted that the decision has to be made today when I requested them to defer the decision," Swaraj said.
