BJP vets official transfer list in Rajasthan

A week ago, an eight-member committee comprising BJP and RSS leaders sat for three days at the party office here, mulling over names to draw...

A week ago, an eight-member committee comprising BJP and RSS leaders sat for three days at the party office here, mulling over names to draw up a list. It had to do with elections, but nothing to do with candidates. What they were finalising was a transfer list, of state officials.

In the presence of a few ministers representing the government, a list of 2,000 ‘‘desirable transfers’’ was readied and sent to the Vasundhara Raje government. Now the implementation—including revocation of some transfers and fresh orders in case of others—has begun.

The party committee was set up after complaints poured in from the RSS, newly elected MLAs and ministers over transfers carried out by the Raje government. Some of these changes might have made things difficult for the party in places, which it certainly didn’t want ahead of a general election. As the murmurs of dissent grew louder, all transfers were put on hold and the process was stopped. A committee was set up at the BJP office and it listed nearly 2,000 state employees and officials whom it wanted transferred to places of their choice.

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Since the new, BJP-cleared list arrived, 300-odd policemen and over 1,000 employees from various departments have been transferred across the state. Raje has also reconsidered some of the previous decisions, with the result that some officials have been transferred twice in the past two weeks. The frenzied activity is obviously meant to ensure that the right men are in the right places before the code of conduct comes into force.

Ask him about the ethics of taking party inputs for administrative decisions, and BJP spokesperson Arun Chaturvedi shrugs: ‘‘It is just a recommendation made by the party to the government. The final decision will be theirs.’’ Mukesh Kumar Sharma, Secretary, Deparment of Personnel, claims very few names were changed in the second list. ‘‘These officials may have had personal reasons for not going to their prevous postings. All final decisions were taken by the Chief Minister herself.’’ Among those shunted around was Superintendent of Police B.R. Gwala, who was transferred from Jaipur (Rural) to Sawai Madhopur 15 days ago.

However, when Food and Civil Supplies Minister Kirorilal Meena (who won from Sawai Madhopur in the recent elections) reportedly objected, Gwala was again moved out, on Sunday. The other ministers who are believed to have objected to certain transfers are Gulab Chand Kataria, Ghanshyam Tiwari and Narpat Singh Rajvi.Ironically, Raje had initially showed reluctance to get into the cycle of transfers which follow every regime change.

These eventually began a month after she took over, after Raje found herself unable to withstand pressure from the party.

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The general feeling was that no work was being done because everyone was expecting transfers.

In the first phase, more than 250 bureaucrats and policemen were transferred. But there was an immediate uproar from the ranks, with party workers stating that ‘‘anti-BJP officials’’ had been given plump postings. That was when Raje turned to the party for recommendations.