How AAP's Ashish Joshi went after principal secretary Rajendra Kumar

NEW DELHI: Ashish Joshi is today known more as the complainant against IAS officer Rajendra Kumar than as a bureaucrat handpicked by the AAP government to be member secretary of the Delhi Dialogue Commission.

An Indian Post & Telecommunication Accounts and Finance Service (IP & TAFS) officer, Joshi first moved the LG-appointed ACB chief MK Meena to probe Kumar for irregularities in his previous postings.

On Tuesday, CBI was acting on this complaint forwarded to it by ACB.

Joshi's latest innings with the Delhi government began much before AAP formed government.

He was posted as member, finance, in the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) serving on deputation from his parent Central government department. Joshi proactively monitored the digitisation of DUSIB operations.

This February, when the AAP government took charge, little-known Joshi was much talked about when Arvind kejriwal's think tank — Delhi Dialogue Commission (DDC) — decided to have him as member secretary.

Ashish Khetan, the AAP official behind framing the 70-point agenda that went into the party manifesto, was supposedly behind Joshi's choice. The DDC got its name from the Delhi Dialogues AAP had held to frame its manifesto. Joshi held a critical position in DDC as member secretary. Kejriwal is chairman of this 9-member body and Khetan vice-chairperson.

Soon, Joshi and Khetan fell out. Joshi wrote to the CM, LG and chief secretary claiming he had been humiliated by DDC, AAP volunteers and senior functionaries. Joshi alleged Khetan wanted to appoint some AAP volunteers to DDC, but he wanted DDC to have an independent team appointed through regular selection. A red-faced government rejected Joshi's assertions.

Soon, Joshi was sacked from DDC and repatriated to his parent department. Just when AAP thought the episode had ended, Joshi surfaced as the complainant against Rajendra Kumar.