NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday boycotted the swearing-in ceremony of Mr P J Thomas who has been sworn-in as the new Central Vigilance Commissioner.

The BJP also complained to the President, Ms Pratibha Patil over the manner in which the appointment of the officer with a “blemished record” was made to the constitutional post.
Fifty-nine-year-old Mr Thomas, the telecom secretary till now, was administered the oath of office for a four-year tenure by the President at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here. The brief function was attended by the Vice President, Mr Hamid Ansari, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, the Home Minister, Mr P Chidambaram, the Law Minister, Mr M Veerappa Moily, the Cabinet Secretary, Mr K M Chandrasekhar and the Chief Information Commissioner, Mr Wajahat Habibullah among others.
The Leader of Opposition, Ms Sushma Swaraj, however, boycotted the function to mark her party’s objection to the appointment of the 1973-batch IAS officer of Kerala cadre to the top post of the anti-corruption watchdog in view of allegations against him in palm oil import scam during his earlier tenures in Kerala.
The Home Minister, Mr Chidambaram, however, said the bureaucrat had been cleared of all charges.
Soon after the swearing-in, Ms Swaraj met the President to register BJP’s protest over Mr Thomas’ appointment despite her dissent at the meeting of three-member selection committee headed by the Prime Minister.
“It was a conscious decision not to go (to the function) to protest the manner in which P J Thomas was appointed over-ruling the very legitimate concerns expressed by BJP about him,” BJP chief spokesperson, Mr Ravi Shankar Prasad said. Ms Swaraj, who was a part of the three-member Committee that selected Mr Thomas for the CVC chief’s post, had registered her dissent over the appointment of a person with “blemished record.” This was ignored by the Committee headed by the Prime Minister and also included the Home Minister.
Bharatiya Janata Party has alleged that the government wanted to appoint Mr Thomas as the CVC head to “cover-up” the alleged scam in allocation of 2G spectrum in which accusations have been levelled against Telecom Minister, Mr A Raja. The main opposition also charges that the appointment was aimed at shielding those allegedly involved in financial irregularities related to the Commonwealth Games, which the CVC has detected.
The Prime Minister had on Monday defended the appointment of Mr Thomas saying, “We have done the right thing. We have chosen the best candidate out of the list of three.” Congress spokesperson, Mr Shakeel Ahmed termed BJP’s boycott as “unfortunate,” saying the post should not be brought in controversy.
Mr Thomas succeeded Mr Pratyush Sinha, a 1969 batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre, who demitted office on Monday after a four-year tenure as CVC. Mr Thomas was to retire from service in January next year.
Ms Swaraj had on Monday said that she told Dr Singh and Mr Chidambaram that since they had chosen the panel, she should be “given the liberty to choose the candidate. “When they did not agree I told them that I am not blacklisting Thomas and if the government wants it can reward him for his services with some other post but not CVC.” “I went to apprise the President about why I had given a dissent note in the CVC selection committee against P J Thomas. I felt that she would only be knowing what she had read about the issue in newspapers. I gave her all the details of what transpired in the meeting and why and for what reasons I opposed the candidature of Thomas,” Ms Swaraj said on Tuesday night.
The Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Mr Arun Jaitley and Ms Swaraj were invited to the swearing-in ceremony of the new CVC, from the BJP and both boycotted the function. Asked if this amounted to a breach of propriety by the principal Opposition and could have been avoided, she said “I had sought the appointment with the President of India on Sunday itself. But she gave me time only after the swearing in. Else, I would have told her everything before and also apprised her about why BJP was boycotting. By meeting her today, my purpose was also to show due courtesy.”