Ex-OSD to Smriti Irani says she resigned amid Congress’ claims of being ‘sacked’

Devanshi Shah, the ex-OSD whose tenure was curtailed by the government with effect from January 31, was replying to a social media post by Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate

Former officer on special duty (OSD) to union minister Smriti Irani on Wednesday dismissed claims of her being sacked, while clarifying that she had chosen to resign instead.

Shah had joined Irani’s office in 2019 as an OSD. (File image | Facebook)

Devanshi Shah, the ex-OSD whose tenure was curtailed by the government with effect from January 31, was replying to a social media post by Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate.

Replying to Shrinate, ex-OSD Shah tweeted, “Ms Supriya Shrinate, I chose to resign due to family obligations to look after elderly & was not sacked. It has been an honour to work with Smriti Irani Ma’am & serve my country. I’d request you not to publicly mar my future as a professional just to settle scores with Min Irani.”

Soon, after the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) had on Tuesday issued two separate orders of the curtailment of the tenures of the OSDs of union minister Irani and Piyush Goyal, Congress spokesperson Shrinate took to Twitter and questioned the reason behind their “sacking” and asked if the OSDs were being made the “fall guys”.

According to two separate orders issued by the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) on Tuesday, the term of Goyal’s OSD, Anuj Gupta, was curtailed with effect from March 7, 2023.

SImilarly, the tenure of Irani’s OSD, Shah, was curtailed from January 31, 2023.

No reason was cited for the curtailment of the term of the two OSDs in the order.

Gupta was first appointed as OSD to the minister in 2016, and his term was extended in 2019 and then, in 2021 while Shah had joined Irani’s office in 2019 as an OSD.