New CBI chief’s selection “deliberately delayed”

New Delhi: Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, one of the three members on the high-powered panel for selection of the CBI director, on Friday accused Prime Minister Modi of a deliberate delay in finalising name by not providing details of the candidates for the post in the meeting he chaired Thursday night.

Explaining why the selection panel meeting was inconclusive for want of details to work on, he accused the government of a “deliberate delay” in filling the post of the CBI director since after removal of Alok Verma from the post early this month. “We (Kharge and Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi) told PM that meeting should be called at the earliest. If meeting keeps postponing, then the person (Nageswara Rao) appointed as CBI Interim Director who is not even eligible will be continuing,” Kharge told reporters here. “First mistake, someone who is not even eligible was appointed and, secondly, without giving any details, they called a meeting,” he said, asserting that “this delay in meeting is because of government’s mistake.”