Ranchi: Leader of Opposition in Jharkhand assembly Arjun Munda today took strong exception to state Chief Secretary P P Sharma, now on leave, asking him in a letter to issue a denial on his statement against the latter in connection with a health scam.

"He (Sharma) should not have sent any letter to the Leader of the Opposition. Secondly, why should I disown a statement which I had stated to a newspaper," Munda told a press conference here.

Munda's reaction came after former Chief Minister Babulal Marandi yesterday accused Munda and Sharma of collusion in an alleged financial irregularities in the health sector when Munda was chief minister and Sharma his health secretary.

Sharma's letter, a copy of which was distributed to the media by Marandi, to Munda touched various points between December 2004 and January 2006 when Sharma was chief secretary as well as health secretary and that all his actions had the sanction of the then Chief Minister, Arjun Munda.

"I was the chief minister when I removed Sharma from the post of chief secretary in 2006 after a report found financial irregularities taking place in the health sector during Sharma's stint as health secretary," said Munda.

Stating that the allegation of financial bungling was in the centrally-funded Jharkhand Health Society under the National Rural Health Mission, Munda demanded a CBI probe to find out the truth.

He wondered why Madhu Koda Government again appointed Sharma as chief secretary despite a pending enquiry.
Source : PTI