BJP state secretary Nabarun Nayek removed on graft charges
In a major embarrassment for the BJP in West Bengal, state secretary Nabarun Nayek has been removed from his post following allegations of corruption.
Weeks after Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel’s unusually powerful Deputy Secretary Saumya Chaurasiya was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) early last month, the Opposition BJP seems to have mustered enough courage to question the mystery surrounding her suspension.
Chaurasia was detained after months of grilling and raids by the federal agencies including the Income Tax.
BJP leader Gourishankar Shrivas, who often spearheaded fierce social media campaigns against the government, especially Chief Minister Baghel, asked the Congress dispensation to clear the air over the suspension status of Saumya Chaurasia, who is in jail after her arrest on 10 December.
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“Such is the terror of the ‘so-called honest’ Deputy Secretary Saumya Chaurasia that Bhupesh Baghel is unable to issue her suspension order even after months of her going to jail”, Shrivas tweeted today.
The state government has so far not come up with any explanation over Chaurasia’s suspension status which, according to law, should have been done within 48 hours of her arrest on December 10. An unsigned suspension order was viral on 15 Decembe, but the government still did not come to clear the air.
An eerie silence has since been prevailing in the media, political and bureaucratic fraternities on the issue, merely because Saumya, it is widely believed, wields huge influence in the current dispensation. The BJP, reeling under chronic gloom, also maintained a mysterious silence till date.
Saumya, a 2008 batch officer of State Administrative Service, was arrested after months of grilling by the ED sleuths. Such has been her influence on the government that even senior-most officials used to report to her and follow her instructions.
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