Kolkata, Aug 8 (IANS) Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, on Friday, claimed that I-PAC, an agency working for strategising public relations exercises of Trinamool Congress since the 2021 polls, is interfering in administrative matters of the state government.
On Friday morning, Adhikari posted on X a screenshot of an email sent from Avesh Singh, a representative of I-PAC, to the Director of Information and ex-officio Additional Secretary to the state Information and Cultural Affairs Department.
In the said email, the I-PAC representative was seen providing the state government official with drive links to the key design assets for a particular state government project, ‘Amader Para, Amader Samadhan (Our locality, our solution)’.
However, IANS does not confirm the authenticity of the screenshot shared by Adhikari.
Besides posting the screenshot, Adhikari had also launched a scathing attack on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, saying that “after allowing Bangladeshi Muslim immigrants to settle in West Bengal, she has now permitted I-PAC men to breach the administrative boundaries of the state government”.
“Just imagine, some lowly associate/executive of a corporate firm engaged in political consultancy, dictating terms to a WBCS (Executive) officer, who is holding the rank of the director of information and ex-officio additional secretary of the Information and Cultural Affairs Department, Government of West Bengal !!!” Adhikari claimed.
At the same time, he had also questioned the associations of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and West Bengal Civil Service (WBCS) officers on whether they would remain silent on this matter of associates of a corporate entity being allowed to “meddle” with administrative matters.
“Will the WBCS (Executive) Officers’ Association and @IASassociation West Bengal Cadre Officers care to comment about this? Are they fine with the situation, where corporate executives, with no formal, ethical, and legal connection with the government and administration, are running the show and issuing instructions to them?” Adhikari questioned.
Adhikari had also questioned whether it was legal for the West Bengal government to engage or involve a corporate political firm in the day-to-day affairs of the State Government, when at the same time they are providing consultation to the ruling Trinamool Congress Party and managing their campaign and organisational structure?
“And at what cost? Is the payment for such ‘service’ being made by the State Exchequer? This is not just an illegal infringement, but seems to be a grand Financial Scam as well,” Adhikari claimed.
Adhikari concluded his statement that he would take appropriate legal steps to “fix” this system, which is plagued by such an “unholy” alliance.
–IANS
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