George defends Jaya on Bezbaruah transfer

MUMBAI, August 22: Union Defence Minister and Samata Party president George Fernandes today asserted that the transfer of Enforcement Dir...

MUMBAI, August 22: Union Defence Minister and Samata Party president George Fernandes today asserted that the transfer of Enforcement Director M K Bezbaruah was “not effected due to any pressure or at anybody’s behest” and decried attempts to implicate AIADMK leader Jayalalitha in the matter.

Fernandes, who addressed the first bi-annual meeting of the recently floated Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) workers union here, told reporters that Bezbaruah’s transfer was not an isolated case and was part of a batch of transfers carried out without pressure.

“The Petroleum Secretary has been shifted to defence production and an additional secretary in the defence ministry has been moved too”, Fernandes noted while trying to play down the controversy over Bezbaruah’s transfer.

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He pointed that public memory was short as for a long time there was talk about a big press baron wanting to remove the Enforcement Director, but later “the focus was only on Jayalalitha”, as if she were behind thetransfer.

Fernandes, however, parried queries about Jayalalitha’s corruption charges against senior BJP leader and Prime Minister’s former political advisor Pramod Mahajan and if Samata Party would give a clean chit to the latter.