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Steady leak of info caused B P Singh's transfer

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

B P Singh was transferred yesterday from the post of Union home secretary because of the consistent leakage of vital information, which found its way into the hands of RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav, senior government officials said today.

Senior home ministry officials told Rediff On The NeT that the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government found out that vital information about its moves were being leaked from the ministry.

It gradually turned out that Laloo Yadav was getting this information; he even began bragging that he could smell what the government was thinking.

The officials alleged that with the RJD chief's new-found enthusiasm for the Congress, the Opposition parties too were getting to know of the government's moves as soon as they were planned.

According to the home ministry officials, it was over a period of eight weeks that the ruling coalition started realising that the RJD chief was getting to know of its crucial moves. But the withdrawal of support by the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the subsequent vote of confidence slowed things down, they pointed out.

But after the government was dislodged and the Opposition parties failed to cobble together an alternative government, the ruling coalition's leaders once again took up the issue of information being leaked from the home ministry.

It is learnt that while a few ministers in the caretaker government advocated caution in handling the matter, others pressed for decisive action, especially considering the fact that a mid-term election was only weeks away.

It is understood that the decision to transfer Singh was taken about a fortnight ago at the highest level. Soon after, Information and Broadcasting Minister Pramod Mahajan began saying that he did not consider the Vajpayee government a caretaker government and that it was free to take vital policy decisions. Mahajan's statement was apparently designed to soften the anticipated criticism in the media following Singh's exit.

Mahajan today rejected the suggestion that the government had sent out a wrong signal by transferring Singh.

Asked whether it was ethical for a caretaker government to affect transfers in the bureaucracy when a mid-term election was due, he said, "We are the Government of India and I don't think we have to give the rationale behind such transfers."

He maintained that the transfers were a routine matter.

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