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Devendra Fadnavis appoints BJP members as OSD

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Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has appointed BJP members as in-charge of media cell and policy formulations with a view to promote BJP/RSS ideology in government decisions and publicity content. The move has rattled bureaucrats who fear these BJP men will interfere in the day-to-today functioning of the government and policy decisions.

Kaustubh Dhavse, Niddhi Kamdar, Sumeet Wankhede and Priya Khanna, all active BJP members, were recently appointed as officers on special duty (OSD).

Niddhi Kamdar, from Nagpur, is the BJP Yuva Morcha vice president. She is in charge of the media and social media, and handles twitter and facebook pages of the CM and his office. Priya Khanna looks after research and policy issues of the government; Dhavse looks after big-ticket projects and policies on urban development. Summet Wankhede will work as personal assistant to the CM. All of them have been given separate cabins next to the CMO on the sixth floor of Mantralaya.

Kamdar told dna that they tweet and post the messages of the CM to interact with people. It was the CM's social media team which had recently posted photographs of Fadnavis attending Shahir Babasaheb Purandare's play, Janta Raja, based on Chhatrapati Shivaji. Fadnavis was shown bowing before Purandare. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat also watched the play.

These photos had invited a lot of criticism. "Fadnavis is not just a BJP/RSS member. He is the chief minister, and the CM bowing before any figure (Purandare) sends a wrong message. We have to respect the chair. Fadnavis may want to promote Purandare's ideology. However as CM, he should follow decorum and protocol," said a regular visitor to CM's social media page.

Fadnavis was not available for comment.

Parag Alavani, a BJP MLA, said there was nothing wrong in appointing BJP members and promoting RSS ideology. "People have voted for us. It's the CM's prerogative to appoint anyone as OSD. When Congress was in power, they promoted their ideology by appointing their people," said Alavani.

A senior government official told dna that now they had to go through the BJP team to get approvals from Fadnavis. "If this continues, it will demoralise us. Most of the time we have to change our content to suit RSS ideology. They want to influence government work. It will kill the sanctity of the (non-partial) government. The government handles many sensitive files, and private BJP members interfering could create problems. As government servants, we are bound by rules and regulations. These people may leave once the BJP government completes its term. They are not responsible for anything," he added.

Liladhar Patil, a political observer, said that the BJP government would use all possible opportunities to promote RSS ideology. "It's just the beginning. Educations and media are the favorite subjects of BJP and RSS. Once RSS thought penetrates the system, it will remain there for several years and may become part of the system," Patil added.

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