BJP to file complaint against Noida IAS officer for ‘plan to contest 2024 polls’
Denying the claims, BN Singh said, “I work according to the rules during working hours and meet people at social events on holidays.”
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Noida unit said on Monday that it was filing a complaint with the home minister, and the party’s central and state leadership, against Brijesh Narayan Singh, a 2009 batch Indian administrative service (IAS) officer and former Gautam Budh Nagar district magistrate (DM), who currently works in the state’s rural engineering service department, for “indulging in politics while on the job, thus violating the union public service’s rule book,” and for announcing his intention to run for the Lok Sabha in 2024 from the Gautam Buddha Nagar parliamentary constituency currently represented by the BJP’s Dr Mahesh Sharma.
Denying the claims, BN Singh said, “I work according to the rules during working hours and meet people at social events on holidays.”
Many office-bearers of the BJP’s Noida unit, led by president Manoj Gupta, briefed the media at the Noida Media Club seminar hall in Sector 29 and announced that they would write to party leaders, including Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, national president JP Nadda, and home minister Amit Shah, among others, demanding action against IAS officer BN Singh, who is serving as special secretary in the state government’s rural engineering services department in Lucknow.
Singh was appointed DM of Gautam Budh Nagar in April 2017, shortly after the BJP took over the state government from the Samajwadi Party. Singh was among the first IAS officers to be assigned to a post in Noida. However, he was removed as DM of Gautam Budh Nagar in March 2020 after chief minister Yogi Adityanath expressed his displeasure with the district’s inability to contain the surge in Covid-19 cases in Noida, and he then applied for three months’ leave.
Following that, the state government started disciplinary proceedings against Singh for allegedly mishandling the Covid-19 pandemic, but it ended the proceedings in April 2021 after Singh submitted his detailed replies. He was then appointed special secretary in the state’s industry department before being transferred to the rural engineering service department, where he is currently serving and also attending social events in the Gautam Buddha Nagar constituency every week, apparently infuriating the BJP’s local unit.
“We have decided to file complaints against Singhbecause how can he draw a salary from an IAS posting while also politically campaigning? If he wants to contest the 2024 general elections, he must resign and stop receiving a salary. He is posted in Lucknow but stays in Gautam Budh Nagar, attends political events, and engages in politics outside of the rules. He is seeking a parliamentary ticket from Gautam Buddha Nagar without resigning and joining our party,” BJP Noida president Manoj Gupta told the media. Party leaders said they will write to the home minister as well against Singh.
Gupta added that the party had filed complaints against Singh when he was the DM of Gautam Budh Nagar.
“As the DM, he abused the law and imprisoned our party colleagues under Section 151 of the Indian Penal Code. In Section 151 (knowingly joining or continuing in assembly of five or more persons after it has been commanded to disperse), bail is easily obtained, but he purposefully sent people to jail to gain political mileage. We had also filed complaints with the party’s top brass at the time,” added Gupta.
At least two dozen BJP members, including office-bearers, addressed the media in Sector 29 and said they would continue fighting until Singh is charged and removed from his IAS post immediately.
“We have no objections to BN Singh entering politics full-time or joining our party. The point is, how is he spending his official time and money to organise political events in the Gautam Buddha Nagar constituency, which is represented by our party leader Dr Mahesh Sharma? When our party has already represented the Gautam Buddha Nagar constituency for the last ten years, how can he work against the incumbent MP Dr Mahesh Sharma, without leaving his government job? How can he criticise a BJP MP and a former minister while working for the government? How can he do full-time promotion and political campaigning while being in a government job? BN Singh is involved in full-time politics on social media, mainstream media, and on the ground; how can he do that as a civil servant?” asked Manish Gupta, vice-president of the BJP’s Noida unit.
When contacted, BN Singh said, “I have never said in our meetings with the people of Gautam Buddha Nagar constituency that I want to fight elections in 2024. I follow the rules during working hours, and on weekends and holidays, I meet people at social events. I don’t want to comment further on their allegations because I haven’t informed anyone in the media that I intend to run for office.”
