New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday focused Hiren Joshi, a senior official within the Prime Minister’s Workplace, demanding full transparency from the federal government about his “enterprise companions, international connections”, and their potential implications for India’s nationwide pursuits.

Congress chief Pawan Khera, who’s chairman of the get together’s media and publicity division, stated it was crucial for the federal government to make clear the matter, as a “very massive query mark” now hangs over the PMO.

Joshi serves as OSD (Communications & Data Know-how) within the PMO. An extended-term aide of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Joshi was in September 2022 accused by former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of pressuring the media to keep away from masking the Aam Aadmi Celebration.

ThePrint reached out to Joshi by calling the cellphone quantity listed towards his identify on the PMO web site. Nevertheless, the calls went unanswered.

On Wednesday Khera claimed, {that a} shut aide of Joshi “who was delivered to the Legislation Fee seven months again has been eliminated in haste, whereas additionally getting that particular person’s authorities bungalow emptied.”

“The nation has the precise to know who his enterprise companions are. What enterprise was Hiren Joshi finishing up sitting within the PMO can also be one thing that the nation deserves to know. Which betting app, what was it, he has a stake in? There may be chatter on social media. And if the federal government doesn’t come out with a clarification quickly then these discussions will go on irrespective of what number of apps they carry,” stated Khera.

Khera went on to allege that he has learnt that Joshi has many enterprise pursuits. “What are his international hyperlinks? Whom did he meet throughout his abroad visits? Did Hiren Joshi compromise India’s nationwide curiosity by his associations in the USA or wherever else he went? All this stuff will come out. You’ll be able to’t homicide democracy that simply. Now there’s a very massive query mark on the PMO.”

Khera stated that as he’s posted within the PMO, which is a public workplace, there have to be readability not solely about Joshi’s enterprise pursuits but in addition about his private associations.

Khera added the nation has a proper to know what relationships he maintains, with whom, and “what sort of harm these ties might have prompted” to the nation.

(Edited by Viny Mishra)

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