Kejriwal slams Centre over removal of Sanjiv Chaturvedi as AIIMS CVO

New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal on Friday slammed the Centre over removal of Sanjeev Chaturvedi from the post of chief vigilance officer (CVO) of AIIMS.

Addressing a press conference, Kejriwal asked the Centre what provoked it to take the step.

"BJP's real agenda is out in the open," added Kejriwal, who had on Thursday sought Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan’s sacking over the issue.

Besides reinstatement of Chaturvedi, Kejriwal today demanded that the CBI must investigate the issue. He also reiterated that Dr Harsh Vardhan must either resign or face dismissal.

While BJP had on Thursday said the official was ineligible to hold the post and there was no witch-hunting or victimisation in the matter, the AAP had accused it of not allowing honest officers to carry out their job properly.

Chaturvedi, a 2002-batch Indian Forest Service officer who has a reputation for being a whistleblower in his parent state of Haryana, was removed from his post last week with the Health Ministry citing no reason for it.

AAP has accused Vardhan of discouraging an honest officer from doing his job and removing him abruptly from his post as the CVO’s tenure was for a period of four years and was to end in June, 2016.