After Governors, now UPA-appointed NDMA Vice Chairman M Shashidhar Reddy, 5 members resign

After some Governors, it was the turn of Vice Chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) M Shashidhar Reddy and five of its members to resign after the new government asked them to quit their posts. 

There were reports that the government has also asked the Chairpersons and members of various Commissions like National Commission for Women, SCs and STs and the head of Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) to resign but there was no confirmation.

Apart from Reddy, the members who have resigned are former Director General of CISF K M Singh, former Civil Aviation Secretary KN Shrivastava, Maj Gen (Retd) J K Bansal, former Director of Bhabha Automic Research Centre B Bhattacharjee and former Special Director of CBI K Salim Ali. "I have sent my resignation on Tuesday to pave the way for the Prime Minister to reconstitute the NDMA. Probably the Prime Minister has a view on it. I am hopeful that the reconstitution process will be completed soon," Reddy told PTI here.

The resignations came after calls were made by Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami to step down in the wake of change of government. They were all appointed by previous UPA government. The NDMA is headed by the Prime Minister. The Vice Chairman enjoys the rank of a Cabinet Minister while eight other members enjoy the rank of a Union Minister of State.  The three members who have not resigned so far include former Director General of CRPF J K Sinha, medical expert Muzaffar Ahmed and former Secretary Department of Ocean Development Harsh K Gupta

Sinha said he was away from Delhi and would do the needful once he returns to the capital. Reddy was first appointed as member of NDMA in 2005 and promoted as Vice-Chairman in December 2010. 

A few members were appointed in 2005 and got reappointment after completion of their five year tenure. Others were appointed in the last two to three years. The members met yesterday and today to discuss the issue of resignation and then put in their papers. 

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The BJP-led government's recent call for the resignation of the UPA-appointed NDMA has come after the spurt of resignations of state governors across the country.  Incidently, special CBI director K Salim Ali, one of the members of the NDMA who was asked to leave, investigated the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case.

It started with the UP governor BL Joshi quitting which was followed by the stepping down of Chhatisgarh governor Shekhar Dutt, today. This move by the NDA to remove all officials appointed by the previous UPA government does not come as a surpise as the UPA followed the same policy when they took over in 2004. Read more