CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday dismissed as baseless allegations of wrongdoing in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), levelled by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), and accused the BJP of using “cheap tactics” to target political opponents.
The ED, in a letter to Punjab Police Director General Gaurav Yadav, has alleged 61 instances of wrongdoing in the CMO and asked the police to register an FIR against private individual Nitin Gohal and others. The agency alleged that they used their influence to interfere in government functioning and were closely associated with Rajbir Singh Ghuman, Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to the Chief Minister.
The allegations include interference in postings and transfers, policy-making, manipulation of tenders, land deals and the procurement of arms licences.
Speaking to the media for the first time after the ED sent a reminder to the Punjab DGP, Mann said the agency was being used as a political tool by the BJP.
“The ED does this kind of work; they just write anything,” he said, claiming there was no truth in the allegations made in the letter. He alleged that the agency targeted political opponents.
“I do not need any certificate of honesty from anyone,” Mann said, urging his political opponents to first sort out their own issues within their respective parties before lecturing him.
Targeting the BJP, he alleged that its political strategy was to target Opposition leaders ahead of elections.
“The way the BJP functions, using central agencies as its tools, is anti-democratic. Leaders of Opposition parties are arrested before elections. That is their ‘ghatiya rajmeeti’ rolled out during every election,” he said.
The ED’s August 11 letter sought the registration of an FIR based on its investigation into alleged “wheeling and dealing” in several Punjab government departments. In its reminder, the agency urged the Punjab DGP to act on information and details shared with his office regarding an alleged organised “racket of transfers and postings” in the state.
According to the ED, Ghuman was allegedly leading the racket involving transfers and postings of administrative officials, including IAS and IPS officers.
The letter refers to an IAS officer in a transcript of a chat dated January 21 this year. It also mentions a woman IAS officer and an IPS officer, currently posted as a senior superintendent of police, in connection with alleged favours relating to a posting and the granting of arms licences.
The ED has pointed to the alleged role of five intermediaries who purportedly used their access to senior government functionaries, including the CMO’s OSD, to influence the postings of IAS, IPS, PCS and PPS officers, as well as officials in the Food and Civil Supplies Department, Verka, the AGTF and the Prisons Department. The names of 21 officers also figure in the letter.
The agency alleged that draft transfer lists were routed through these intermediaries before the lists were finally released.
Reacting to the arrest of former Delhi minister and AAP leader Satyendar Jain, Mann described it as a clear case of “political vendetta”.
Mann said the only plausible reason for Jain’s arrest was his role as the AAP’s co-incharge for Punjab and alleged that the BJP wanted to dent the party politically by arresting its senior leaders. He claimed the BJP had adopted a similar strategy in Delhi ahead of last year’s elections.
He alleged that the BJP was resorting to such tactics because it had failed to establish a political foothold in Punjab.
“But here they have faltered. They have arrested Jain for his role in a tender floated by the Delhi Jal Board, when Jain was in jail. How could he be involved then? Our hope lies in the court now,” Mann said.
Calling the alleged use of central agencies against Opposition leaders “not good for democracy”, Mann said, “The agencies of the Union government like the ED are being misused to intimidate and suppress Opposition leaders.”
Referring to action against AAP leaders in Delhi, Mann alleged that Opposition leaders had been targeted for raising their voices against the BJP. Citing the detention of Sanjay Singh and legal proceedings involving former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, he alleged that investigative agencies were being used against Opposition leaders during elections as an “anti-democratic” practice.
Mann also accused those questioning his government of having “sold Punjab” and said they had no moral standing to question the state’s interests.
On the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) notice to the Punjab Government over the non-observance of Independence Day celebrations in government schools, Mann said Punjab did not need to be lectured on patriotism.
“Those who issued the notice must be from Gujarat. Almost 90 per cent of those who sacrificed their lives were from Punjab,” he said.
