New Delhi, Feb 5 (NIE): A day after Union minister Arun Jaitley slammed him for expressing dissent on the appointment of the new CBI director, Congress leader of Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday hit back, saying his objections were always on the “procedure of appointment, and never against any officer or his integrity”.

Kharge asked the Central government to make public minutes of the selection committee meeting and the relevant details, “so that people know if the issues raised are of concern or not”.

The panel is headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and also comprises CJI Ranjan Gogoi, besides Kharge as the Opposition member.

In the last meeting, Kharge had raised objection to to the appointment of Rishi Kumar Shukla as CBI director. In a blog posted on Sunday, Jaitley argued that Kharge dissents regularly and wondered whether he has brought down the value of dissent.

In his letter to Jaitley today, Kharge stated that “by asking difficult questions repeatedly, the value of the questions raised doesn’t come down”.

He wrote, “The fact that you chose to respond from half way across the world indicates something worries the government. Going by the way the government has conducted itself in the matter of appointment of the CBI Director, particularly the way Justice Patnaik’s report was suppressed and courts have been misguided regarding appointment of the Interim Director, I am pained to say the value of Prime Minister’s office has been brought down.”

The Congress leader wrote that he had objected to appointment of Alok Verma as the CBI chief in 2017 because Verma did not have any experience of investigation in anti-corruption cases, “and the nation saw how infighting within the CBI has caused irreparable damage to the institution,” he stated.

Kharge said he objected to Verma’s removal last month because it was done in violation of the provisions of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, and that his objection to Shukla’s appointment is also on the ground that the IPS officer has no experience in investigation in anti-corruption cases.

Kharge wrote that he wishes Shukla well and hoped his lack of experience in CBI would not “hamper his ability to rebuild the institution that this government has destroyed.”

“My objections were always on the procedure of appointment, and never against an officer or his integrity,” he stated, and took a jibe at Jaitley for calling the CBI’s probe into the ICICI Bank case “investigative adventurism.” He wrote, “The strongest dissent note against the CBI and its functioning has been penned by you last week in the matter in which bank frauds are being investigated. I commend you for your honesty. The CBI took your note seriously enough to transfer officers and stop investigations. But dissent notes sent by me to the Prime Minister did not even get a response from him.”