Deputy Leader of Opposition (Rajya Sabha) Ravi Shankar Prasad demanded on Saturday that Uttar Pradesh Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Durga Shakti Nagpal's suspension order be revoked, saying that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in full support of committed bureaucracy in the country.
"Durga's (suspension) order is absolutely unjust. The action that has been taken against a sincere and honest officer is completely unfair. The BJP had earlier asked for the suspension order to be revoked, and the BJP stands by that. The BJP stands with committed bureaucracy who seek to work with dedication and propriety," Prasad said here today.
On Saturday, UPA chairperson and Congress President Sonia Gandhi wrote a letter to Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh urging him to intervene into the suspension order of IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal.
Gandhi's letter triggered a strong reaction from the BJP, who have said that the letter is of no significance and will not play a part in handing out justice to Nagpal.
On Saturday, Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP) leader Syed Shahnawaz Hussain said that Sonia Gandhi's letter to the Prime Minister regarding Nagpal held no as the ruling party and the Samajwadi Party (SP) worked in collaboration.
""The Samajwadi Party is in alliance with the Congress at the Centre. Sonia Gandhi's letter to Manmohan Singh does not have any significance because the Samajwadi Party and the Congress are working together. The Congress needs their support on the Food Security Bill, as well. The Central Government is using the letter to waste time," Hussain said on Saturday.
Hussain added that if the Centre was genuinely interested in intervening in the case, it could revoke the order immediately. "If the intent is to help IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal, then the Centre can do so right away by revoking the suspension order. The letter is just paperwork and nothing beyond it," Hussain said.
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Sonia Gandhi's letter to the Prime Minister came three days after representatives of the Central IAS officers' Association met Minister of State in PMO V. Narayanasamy to demand justice for Nagpal.
Nagpal was suspended last month ostensibly for taking on the sand mafia and for ordering the demolition of a wall of a mosque that was being built on government land in the state's Gautam Buddh Nagar District, where she was posted as Sub-Divisional Magistrate.
According to reports, the 2009-batch IAS officer had seized nearly 300 trolleys of sand being illegally mined from the Yamuna river bed.
Though the Uttar Pradesh Government has called it as an 'administrative decision', against her for demolishing a wall which was part of an intended mosque, but many believe that it was the result of pressure from the mining mafia.