WestBengal: Congress leader and Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday launched scathing attack on the BJP and the Election Commission following the newly formed West Bengal government led by CM Suvendu Adhikari appointed former chief electoral officer Manoj Agarwal as the state’s chief secretary.
Taking a dig at both the BJP and the Election Commission, Rahul Gandhi posted on X, “In the BJP-EC’s ‘chor bazaar’ – the bigger the theft, the bigger the reward.”
Soon after taking charge, the new Bengal administration initiated a bureaucratic overhaul, transferring 16 officials who had served in the Chief Minister’s Office during Mamata Banerjee’s tenure. Retired IAS officer Subrata Gupta was appointed adviser to Chief Minister Adhikari.
The move by the BJP-led government under Suvendu Adhikari came just days after the party came to power in West Bengal for the first time, ending Mamata Banerjee’s 15-year rule in the state.
Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress (TMC) also strongly criticised Manoj Agarwal’s appointment to the top bureaucratic post in the state. Questioning the neutrality of the election process, TMC labeled the move “shameless.”
TMC leader Saket Gokhale wrote on X, “Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Aggarwal who conducted the West Bengal election for the ECI has been appointed Chief Secretary of Bengal by the new BJP Govt. BJP & ECI are now being open about stealing the election. Are the courts BLIND or COMPLICIT? This is beyond shameless.”
Meanwhile, Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh called the move a “brazen collusion and connivance between the ECI and the BJP.”
He said, “These appointments reflect the brazen collusion and connivance between the ECI and the BJP. There is no longer even an attempt to keep the collusion discrete or concealed.”
The announcement came after the first cabinet meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party government led by Suvendu Adhikari in West Bengal.
Manoj Agarwal was appointed chief secretary just 48 hours after special election observer Subrata Gupta was named adviser to the chief minister. Notably, Agarwal had originally been chosen as West Bengal’s chief electoral officer by the Election Commission from a panel submitted by the All India Trinamool Congress government led by Mamata Banerjee.
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