Ranchi, September 21, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
BJP MP from Jharkhand’s Godda, Nishikant Dubey, has said he will file a criminal defamation case against former Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg over what he described as false statements made about him during a recent podcast.
The controversy intensified after Garg, during the podcast, referred to an alleged meeting with Dubey while he was serving in the Finance Ministry and claimed that the BJP MP had approached him regarding certain matters.
Rejecting the allegations, Dubey said he had never visited the office of any Central government Secretary since being elected to Parliament in 2009 and had never written a recommendation seeking the transfer or posting of any government official.
Speaking on Monday, Dubey said Garg had claimed during the podcast that the two had met in his office and that he had sought intervention in a transfer-related matter.
“The truth is that since being elected to Parliament in 2009, I have never gone to any Secretary for such work. If Garg has any evidence of my visiting his office or making any recommendation, he should place it in the public domain,” Dubey said.
The latest exchange comes amid an ongoing war of words between the two over India’s first-quarter GDP growth rate of 7.8 per cent. Garg had recently questioned the GDP figures and changes in the methodology used for calculating past GDP data, following which Dubey criticised the former bureaucrat.
According to the allegations referred to by Dubey, Garg said in the podcast that during his tenure as Finance Secretary, the MP had approached him with certain files or matters that he perceived as lobbying or advocacy on behalf of corporate interests.
Dubey dismissed the claim and reiterated that he had never visited any ministry to meet a Secretary. He also maintained that he had never recommended the transfer or posting of any official.
Garg served as Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs from July 2017 to July 2019 and briefly served as Finance Secretary between March and June 2019. He was subsequently transferred to the Ministry of Power before opting for voluntary retirement.
Dubey said his differences with Garg were not new. He recalled that in 2018, he had written to the Prime Minister raising questions about Garg’s economic policies and functioning while he was serving as Economic Affairs Secretary.
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