New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) launched a scathing attack on the Bhagwant Mann government over the ‘transfer racket’ in Punjab, claiming that the top bureaucrats were being transferred in the state as per their “rate cards”, with middlemen and brokers deciding their transfers and postings.
Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters, BJP national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia claimed that this was being done under the watch of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and has the blessings of the “kingpin” Arvind Kejriwal.
The BJP leader claimed that middlemen and brokers are ruling the roost in the Mann government and transfers were being done in co-ordination with the Officer of Special Duty (OSD), also said to be a close associate of the Chief Minister.
BJP’s scathing charge comes on the back of a recent filing by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, where it claimed that Rajbir Singh Gautam, an OSD in Mann’s office, was allegedly leading the racket involving transfer and posting of officers, including IAS and IPS officers.
The ED also presented a series of letters, reminders and other documents that it sent to Punjab authorities over the alleged transfer-posting racket.
Gaurav Bhatia, referring to ED’s submission, said that the investigative agency wrote seven letters to the Punjab Police but the latter refused to lodge an FIR despite it being a cognizable offence.
He said that Bhagwant Mann and Arvind Kejriwal have become symbols of corruption and called the AAP chief the “kingpin” of the scandal.
“Punjab, known the world over for its honesty and hard work, has been turned into a brokerage and commission hub because of the corrupt and dishonest Bhagwant Mann government. The transfer and postings of IAS and IPS officers is being done as per their rate card, and it is being done on the directions of OSD,” Bhatia claimed.
Drawing a link with the Delhi liquor scam, Bhatia said that a similar model existed under the previous AAP government in the capital and the people rightly punished the then dispensation for facilitating middlemen as well as corruption.
The BJP spokesperson further said that the brokers have set up communication channels with the Chief Minister and are taking the call in officers’ postings, based on their rate card.
“The classified information pertaining to the state government has also flowed into the mobile phones of middlemen,” he alleged and demanded that the Bhagwant Mann government come clean on the issue, else tender his resignation.
“Today, people of Punjab are asking the Chief Minister – Are you not shielding the corrupt middlemen and undermining the Constitutional values that you are meant to uphold?” he asked.
He also demanded answers on how an OSD could allow the transfer and posting of more than 20 senior bureaucrats without the knowledge of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, hinting that there was some hand-in-gloves arrangement.
Bhatia further stated that the administration’s reluctance in lodging FIR over the ‘transfer-posting racket’ in Punjab only raises suspicion about the Chief Minister and said that the time is not far when the AAP government will be thrown out by the people, much like Delhi.
(IANS)
