: The rising clout of AAPs Delhi leader Raghav Chadha in Punjab #IndiaNEWS #Other News By Rajinder S TaggarNew Delhi, July 29: There is considerable heartburn and demoralisation in the Punjab bureaucracy

The rising clout of AAPs Delhi leader Raghav Chadha in Punjab #IndiaNEWS #Other News
By Rajinder S TaggarNew Delhi, July 29: There is considerable heartburn and demoralisation in the Punjab bureaucracy over the use of extra-constitutional powers by AAPs Delhi leader Raghav Chadha who regularly summons officers for meetings at the official bungalow allotted to him in Chandigarh near the Chief Ministers residence.
He has been appointed as chairman of the advisory committee to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and has also been elected to the Rajya Sabha as an MP from the state because of his proximity to Kejriwal.
According to sources, he issues directions to the officers of the Punjab government ostensibly on behalf of the CM even though Mann is not present at the meetings.
Sources disclose that former Chief Secretary Anirudh Tiwari had raised strong objections to this and refused to attend the meetings called by Chadha as a result of which he was shunted out from the job and replaced by VK Janjua.
Publically, Tiwari maintains a stark silence on the issue but is learned to have confided in more than one journalist covering the Punjab beat that he had made his disinclination to report to Chadha clear to the CM about. Tiwari has now been sidelined and posted as the head of the innocuous Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Public Administration. He has now sought to central deputation as he wants to go out of Punjab.
The selection of V. K. Janjua as the new Chief Secretary (CS) orchestrated mainly by Chadha is considered to be yet another unwise decision of the Mann government.
Janjua during his stint in the industries department many years ago was arrested by the Vigilance Bureau red-handed for having accepted a bribe of Rs 2 lakh from a Ludhiana-based industrialist. The money was recovered from the drawer of his table. The officer was, however, given a clean chit by former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh after an executive inquiry. Janjuas appointment as Chief Secretary is considered odd for a party that claims to have zero tolerance for corruption.
It is no secret in the corridors of power that postings and transfers of bureaucrats are done on the basis of unwritten orders and with the consent of Chadha. The ministers holding different portfolios too have to regularly meet Chadha and take him into confidence before taking any major decision.
All this is taking place in the name of guiding the young and inexperienced Mann cabinet since Chadha was trained to handle official functioning having closely worked with Kejriwals Delhi government.
Chadhas clout seems to be growing with each passing day as was evident from the resignation of Advocate General (AG) Anmol Rattan Singh Sidhu on July 26. Sidhu had refused to recruit lawyers for the different posts in his office solely as per the whims and fancies of Chadha.

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