BJP minister takes umbrage at transfers cleared by him being overruled by Nitish

By PTI

PATNA: A BJP minister in Bihar on Sunday expressed indignation over a bulk of transfers and postings, which he had cleared, being placed on maintain by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who apparently took observe of allegations of irregularities.

Transfers and postings of a number of officers of the income and land reforms division had been cleared late final month by Ram Surat Rai, the minister involved, solely to be vetoed by the CM’s workplace just a few days later.

Allegations surfaced in a bit of the press that some officers got plum postings regardless of taints of corruption and plenty of have been transferred regardless of having served for lower than three years at their present locations of posting.

“I had cleared the transfers and postings exercising the powers vested in me as the minister. It is the chief minister’s prerogative to allow or reject these,” Rai informed reporters with an air of dejection.

The minister denied allegations of tainted officers being favoured however admitted that many have been granted transfers out of flip following requests they made themselves or by some MLA.

“We ministers are also public representatives. If some official approach us directly or sends a word through an MLA, requesting that he or she be given a posting in a district close to the place where his or her spouse is working, we have to act on such requests,” stated Rai who has earned a repute for outspokenness within the lower than two years he has been a minister.

He stated that he understood the “special privilege” the chief minister enjoys and has exercised however minced no phrases in describing the “thes” (harm) he felt over being overruled.

When some journalists requested him, if, within the mild of allegations of irregularities, he feared dropping his ministerial submit, Rai snapped saying “this chair is not somebody’s ancestral property. If the government thinks I do not deserve to continue, I wish it best of luck to find someone more worthy than I am”.

To a query whether or not he thought ministers belonging to the BJP felt “dabaav” (stress) beneath the overbearing management of the chief minister, who belongs to JD(U), Rai stated with a swagger, “People in BJP do not know how to buckle under pressure.”

However, he hastened so as to add “nobody in the government functions under any type of pressure. Even JD(U) ministers function freely”.

Meanwhile, the BJP for which the JD(U)’s adversarial stance over Agnipath has rung alarm bells, sought to distance itself from the matter involving the chief minister and his cabinet colleague.

“The party believes the issue will be amicably resolved once the chief minister has a word with Ram Surat Rai,” BJP spokesperson Arvind Kumar Singh stated in an announcement.

Although a bit of BJP leaders in Bihar gloat over the truth that it has extra numbers within the meeting than the JD(U), and that it additionally guidelines the Centre, many appear averse to annoying Kumar, the de facto chief of the JD(U) which is at the moment the NDA’s second-largest ally.

The celebration has, notably, maintained a telling silence over the JD(U)’s current belligerence in direction of “BJP sympathisers” like former spokesman Ajay Alok, who has been expelled, and former nationwide president RCP Singh who misplaced his berth in Union cabinet upon denial of one other time period in Rajya Sabha.