BJP PM candidate Narendra Modi during an election rally. BJP PM candidate Narendra Modi during an election rally.

Thousands of income tax officers, working under the Ministry of Finance, want to see BJP's Narendra Modi as the next prime minister.

Though no officer at any level wanted to come on record but when asked with an assurance of anonymity, almost everyone said a change was necessary and it would be to their benefit.

"The UPA government has not supported income tax officials at any point of time. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram took a series of meetings but forget about accepting our demands, he never even admitted that we were facing serious problems," a senior official, from the Income Tax Gazetted Officers Association (ITGOA), told IndiaToday.in. The ITGOA has around 8,000 members.

At the start of 2014, Income Tax Employees Federation (ITEF) called a two-day nationwide strike to press for their long-pending demands and abstained from search and survey operations. The employees were demanding immediate allocation of posts and implementation of cadre restructuring proposal cleared by the Union Cabinet in 2013 in conformity.

The officials claim they are facing problems due to the lethargic attitude of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) towards their demands.

Some of the issues had been discussed and senior officials also gave their nod but nothing has been done so far.

"Due to the lethargic attitude of authorities, employees are suffering on various counts such as denial of promotions, cadre review, recovery resorted to by accounts department, agony and sufferings of casual workers and stagnation in promotion," the official said.

Not mincing any words, these frustrated I-T officials expect Modi to become the next prime minister.

"We need a strong person like Modi. He might be forceful with us. He might not accept all our demands, but he would at least agree on two demands and implement them," the official said.

Though ITGOA members have never met Modi but some months ago, they had a meeting with former finance minister Yashwant Sinha.

