Appointments by Uttarakhand’s BJP government have evoked accusations of nepotism, a failing Prime Minister Narendra Modi likes to associate with Opposition parties. State Speaker Ritu Khanduri on Saturday admitted to possible irregularities in appointments to the Assembly secretariat and ordered an administrative probe into all appointments since 2012.

The Congress, which alleges that 129 people related or close to BJP leaders and bureaucrats have been appointed to the Assembly secretariat since last year, questioned the decision to stretch the probe’s ambit till 2012. It said it would move court and seek a CBI inquiry.

The Congress governed Uttarakhand from 2012 till 2017, its tenure punctuated by brief periods of Central rule. Speaker Khanduri said Assembly secretary Mukesh Singhwal had been sent on indefinite leave to ensure a smooth inquiry by a three-member committee, headed by former IAS officer Dilip Kumar.

The report is expected in a month.“The BJP government appointed 129 people close to party leaders or government officials without following norms (such as issuing advertisements). Former Speaker Premchand Aggarwal was directly involved,” senior Congress leader Ganesh Godiyal said.

“We want a CBI probe because top ministers and bureaucrats are involved. A state-level inquiry will not reveal the truth. Further, by ordering an inquiry since 2012, the government is trying to dilute the issue. We are preparing to move court to expose corruption in the BJP government.”

Aggarwal was Speaker from March 2017 to March 2022 and is now finance and urban development minister. His tenure as Speaker coincided with those of three chief ministers: Trivendra Singh Rawat (March 2017 to March 2021), Tirath Singh Rawat (March 2021 to July 2021) and Pushkar Sing Dhami (chief minister since July 2021). Trivendra last week virtually admitted to irregularities in the appointments, telling reporters: “This file was sent to me when I was chief minister but I refused to sign it. These 129 appointments were done after I left the chair of chief minister.”

Aggarwal recently argued that it was the “Speaker’s prerogative to appoint people to certain posts in the Assembly secretariat” and claimed that “all the norms were followed in these direct appointments”.

State Congress president Karan Mahara, however, underlined that “Uttar Pradesh, the largest state with 403 Assembly seats, has 543 employees in its Assembly secretariat while Uttarakhand, with 70 Assembly seats, has more than 560”.Khanduri acknowledged that there’s no sanctioned limit to the number of employees at the Assembly secretariat. Mahara said: “The PROs of a former cabinet minister, a present woman minister and an organisational general secretary have been given jobs at the Assembly secretariat, and so have the wives of two OSDs of a former chief minister.” He threatened a state-wide movement, saying: “We cannot expect the government to be honest in conducting the probe.”