Ex-officials flock to Congress

By Manas Dasgupta

AHMEDABAD, AUG. 19 . The simmering discontent among the Gujarat Government officials over the style of functioning of the BJP rulers reflected in several retired administrative and police officers joining the Congress party here today.

The instances of government officers joining politics after retirement are not very common and more than half a dozen senior former bureaucrats sharing the same platform is a rare event.

Among those who joined the party included the retired Additional Chief Secretary, Mr. P. G. Ramrakhiani, who while in service was hounded out by the BJP rulers for his differences with the Minister of State for Home, Mr. Haren Pandya, on the issue of minority-bashing by the Sangh Parivar volunteers, Mr. B. J. Gadhavi, who retired as the Joint Police Commissioner, Mr. B. S. Gehlot, who retired as the Inspector General of Police, Mr. J. C. Patel, the former Deputy Police Commissioner, Mr. K. K. Patel, the former Assistant Commissioner of Police, and Mr. J. M. patel, who retired as the Deputy Superintendent of Police. There were also two former cricketers, Mr. Raju Bhatt and Mr. Anil Patel, both Ranji Trophy players, besides a host of other leading socialites, professors, medical practitioners and others to join the party.

A beaming Pradesh Congress president, Mr. Amarsinh Chaudhary, welcomed them into the party heralding it as the beginning of the end of the BJP rule in the State.

In the recent times, only a few retired IAS or IPS officers had joined politics in the State. While Mr. Jaspal Singh, now a Minister in the Keshubhai Patel Cabinet, joined politics after resigning from the post of Police Commissioner of Baroda following his differences with the then Congress rulers in the State, the former Director General of Police, Mr. P. K. Dutta, had joined the Congress and unsuccessfully contested against Mr. L. K. Advani for the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat in the 1998 elections.

Many of the bureaucrats in the State are unhappy over the behaviour of the present political rulers in taking action against the IAS and the Gujarat Administrative Service (GAS) cadre officials on flimsiest grounds while shielding the guilty politicians.

The refusal by the State Government employees to donate a day's salary to the Chief Minister's relief fund for the January 26 earthquake victims speak eloquently of their confidence in the BJP administration. While responding to the Chief Minister's appeal for donating a day's salary for the earthquake victims, several associations of the Government employees of various cadres adopted resolutions favouring handing over the money to some non-government organisations rather than to the relief fund.

Many of the NGOs presently carrying out reconstruction activities in the worst earthquake-hit Kutch district have also similarly refused to part with funds though were sounded by the Government. ``We do not have the confidence that the money will be utilised properly for the earthquake victims if given to the Government,'' a spokesman of a leading NGO said. They insist on carrying out the job on their own to ensure that the help reached the needy.

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Section  : Other States
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