RAIPUR: An IAS officer in Chhattisgarh faces protest by the BJP leaders and cadres in Balrampur district, some 330 km north of Raipur, before he takes over his new responsibility there after being transferred as the chief executive officer (CEO) zila panchayat.
The reason behind the resentment of the saffron party leaders against the 2012-batch IAS officer Shiv Anant Tayal, is his remark he had posted on his Facebook on October 7 last year questioning the achievements of the founder-member of the Bhartiya Jan Sangh Deendayal Upadhyay.
After the post created storm on the social media, he deleted it and tendered an apology.
He was however shunted out as CEO Kanker district panchayat then by the government and transferred to the state secretariat. The state government has recently announced minor reshuffling of bureaucrats that included the name of Tayal.
He is expected to join Balrampur this week. “We can't bear having him around in our district. The officer offended us by his comments on Pandit Deendayal, who is an icon for the BJP. The party leaders and cadres from the district have met the chief minister to cancel the official order”, the Balrampur district BJP president Shivnath Yadav told the Express. Yadav claimed that the IAS is facing the protest at every level in the district for his "objectionable" views on FB.
The decision of the ruling BJP government in the wake of the expressed opposition for the bureaucrat though is yet to be known but the IAS fraternity felt that since Tayal has already expressed his deep regret there isn’t any issue now. “Those who are protesting should then also come out with a way out on where should he be posted in the state?”, a senior officer in the state secretariat opined.
Yadav apparently was clueless when asked to suggest any district where the IAS officer should be allowed to go and work. “But there is a displeasure against him persisting among the party cadres. We hope the state government will soon act on our demand”, he said.