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Sitaram Kunte transfer political, say many, but others differ

Even though 1985 batch IAS officer Sitaram Kunte's tenure is coming to an end on April 30, his transfer on the backdrop of criticism of the draft development plan (DP) and bringing in 1984 batch IAS Ajoy Mehta to replace him, is being seen as a political decision by the Devendra Fadnavis government. However, many see very little politics in it and are of the opinion that whether draft DP or not, Kunte was scheduled to go.

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Even though 1985 batch IAS officer Sitaram Kunte's tenure is coming to an end on April 30, his transfer on the backdrop of criticism of the draft development plan (DP) and bringing in 1984 batch IAS Ajoy Mehta to replace him, is being seen as a political decision by the Devendra Fadnavis government. However, many see very little politics in it and are of the opinion that whether draft DP or not, Kunte was scheduled to go.

Many leaders and senior bureaucrats say that while Fadnavis has removed Kunte after providing him enough time to rectify the draft DP, he has played his cards well to bring in a firm and forthright Mehta before the BMC elections in 2017. A BJP leader on condition of anonymity said: "What is wrong in bringing a bureaucrat of the government's choice when Shiv Sena is ruling the BMC for years?"

Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party leader Rais Shaikh said that Kunte was ex-chief minister Prithviraj Chavan's man and had also won the faith of Fadnavis soon after the change of guards in the state. He said that was the reason Kunte received an extension when he painted a rosy picture about the draft DP. After thousands of objections on the DP, Fadnavis gave Kunte enough time. After scrapping the DP, he removed Kunte to bring in Mehta for obvious reasons.

However, a BJP leader said that Kunte's transfer had nothing to do with the DP row. By pointing out that Mehta was close to late Pramod Mahajn and late Gopinath Munde, the BJP leader said that appointment of Mehta is in line with all other transfers the Fadnavis government effected in crucial positions. He questioned as to what was wrong if Fadnavis brought Mehta, a forthright and uncompromising officer, at the helm of BMC.

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