Senior IAS officer Rajat Bhargava said that the grant of Special Category Status (SCS) to Andhra Pradesh was not in his hands. In a statement on Tuesday, Rajat Bhargava denied the report appearing in a vernacular daily that he was responsible for not getting SCS to Andhra Pradesh.

The vernacular daily alleged that Rajat Bhargava, while being the joint secretary in the Union Finance Ministry did not attend the Central government meetings on granting SCS to Andhra Pradesh. The daily further said that Rajat Bhargava had skipped five such meetings resulting in the total denial of the SCS to the state.

Rajat Bhargava said that the report was totally baseless and is far from the truth. He said that the joint secretary of the state had no rights to grant SCS to any state. He further said that the joint secretary in the finance ministry was only an officer responsible for some given tasks and had no powers to choose tasks.

The vernacular daily quoted a retired IAS officer P V Ramesh who told the daily that Rajat Bhargava did not attend the meetings of the Planning Commission representing the finance ministry. The planning commission held five meetings on the issue and said that Rajat Bhargava did not attend even a single meeting.

“If the post of the joint secretary is so powerful and can sanction the Special Category Status to any state, I would have been the first to give the SCS to Andhra Pradesh, where I have been serving for several years,” Rajat Bhargava said.

He further asked the vernacular daily to publish his statement as it was damaging and was aimed at spoiling his image. It is to be seen how the vernacular daily would respond to the statement of the senior IAS officer.