The Congress party on Monday expressed serious reservation on the appointment of M V Kamath as chairman of  Prasar Bharati [Broadcasting Corporation of India].

In a statement the party said, "[It is] one more blatant attempt by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government to influence Doordarshan and All India Radio, which, clothed with autonomy when Jaipal Reddy was the Information and Broadcasting minister, were operationalised."

Spokesman S Jaipal Reddy, addressing reporters, alleged, "Since the BJP government could not undo the Prasar Bharati Act, they are trying to capture it from inside to sabotage and subvert the spirit of Prasar Bharati."

He added, "As everybody knows, the Prasar Bharati was conceived as a Public Broadcasting Corporation. The idea behind it is to have it run by people with independent understanding of politics and other things. M V Kamath is known for his brazen pro-BJP bias, which was visible from his writings over the last few years."

The Prasar Bharati,  a statutory autonomous body, was established under the Prasar Bharati Act after the board came into existence from November 23, 1997. It regulates the working of All India Radio and Doordarshan which were earlier working as independent media units under the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting.

A high-level committee headed by Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat had recommended Kamath's name for the post, which was disclosed to the media by I&B Minister Sushma Swaraj.

Kamath, made a member of the board last year, takes over the new assignment as the third chairman of Prasar Bharati.

He had worked in several news organisations, including the now defunct Illustrated Weekly [as editor]. He was also the US correspondent of the The Times of India for many years.

The Prasar Bharati chairman's post had been lying vacant since space scientist U R Rao resigned last year.