Jaipur: An angry BJP legislator's lashing out at his own minister, even calling all ministers “thieves” for not getting any of their work done, has provided the Opposition Congress with enough ammunition for attacking the Bhajanlal Sharma government and reaffirming its catch-phrase of the present government being a parchiwali sarkar.
On Monday, Ram Bilas Meena, MLA from Lalsot blasted Urban Development minister Jhabar Singh Kharra after having an argument with him over filling up vacant positions of Junior Engineer and Assistant Engineer in his constituency. An enraged Meena later told the media that he has been making the rounds to the minister’s office a number of times just to get engineers fill up the vacant posts but the minister doesn’t seem to be interested. He said, “Such people are sitting as ministers in our government, who are all sleeping. All are thieves.”
He also said that all legislators are unhappy as none of their work is being done and also talked about complaining to the chief minister. He said, “It doesn’t feel that there has been a regime change. We have a shortage of staff in our Nagar Palika but the minister is not bothered to hear our grievances. And we have to come frequently to Jaipur to get an audience with the minister. “
His outburst has obviously given ammunition to the Opposition. Congress’s leader in the House, Tikaram Jully said that “BJP legislators have started coming out in the open against their own government. One can imagine what is the plight of the common man when BJP’s own representatives seem to have no coordination with their own government. The parchiwali sarkar is a failure on all fronts.”
The Congress X handle Rajasthan PCC has cashed in on the incident and put up the legislator’s post and viral video on their handle, prominently displaying his words Chor hain Sab. Koi Sunwai nahi hoti (All are thieves. No one is there to listen), reiterating that these are BJP’s legislator’s own words and that he is speaking for his own parchiwali sarkar.
Earlier BJP’s Bandikui legislator Bhagchand Takra had levelled bribery allegations against forest department officials in his constituency and had said his pleas had gone unheard, questioning the functioning of the government in the Assembly.
There are whispers in the power corridors that government officials, who ideally make the files move, are not taking bold decisions as they are all awaiting transfers, as is expected after a regime change.
Incidentally, no IAS of the Gehlot regime has been transferred till now. Seizing the opportunity, Gehlot tweeted on his X handle that “no shuffling of the IAS officers for the last eight months is an indication that appointments made during Congress tenure were perfect and that all allegations against the officers made by the BJP were not only baseless but malicious.”
Although Gehlot’s comments drew sharp reaction from senior BJP leader Rajendra Rathore, who said that BJP evaluates bureaucrats on their performance and not on political affiliations, insiders in the secretariat say that as per the tradition after the change of regime, many of the officers, are indeed awaiting transfers and not making any major policy decisions, which is affecting governance.
According to an estimate at least 40 IAS, 55 IPS and 25 IFS officers are awaiting transfers, amidst a rising demand of their transfers from BJP party workers and even legislators.