LC Goyal's appointment as CMD of ITPO damage control exercise: Congress

NEW DELHI: Congress today said that the appointment of outgoing Home Secretary L C Goyal as the Chairman and Managing Director of India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) showed that the government was "rattled" by the opposition criticism of the Goyal's sudden replacement.

"It is clear that the government is rattled by the criticism of its action. It is an afterthought for damage control", party's senior spokesman Anand Sharma told PTI.

Earlier, in a sudden and surprise development, senior IAS officer Rajiv Mehrishi, who was to retire today, was appointed as Union Home Secretary, replacing L C Goyal whose tenure abruptly ended 17 months before the completion of his two-year tenure.

Significantly, the news of Mehrishi's appointment came from PMO which said, the Prime Minister has "also approved the request" of Goyal, a 1979-batch IAS officer from Kerala cadre, "seeking Voluntary Retirement from government service with immediate effect due to personal reasons".

At the Congress briefing earlier, Sharma had said that the sudden removal of Goyal could be because of his seeking information on the Naga peace accord the Centre signed with NSCN (IM).

"Government may have got upset with him because of his seeking information on the Naga accord as the Home Ministry was not aware about the development. It could have been thought as to how he could dare", Sharma said.