AAP govt hired ‘specialists’ in violation of rules: BJP

This comes just days after lieutenant governor VK Saxena sacked the “specialists” owing to the “non-transparent manner” in which they were appointed

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday slammed the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government over the appointment of over 400 “specialists” in various departments, as it alleged that the hiring was done in violation of norms and that chief Arvind Kejriwal was “distributing the government’s revenue among his own people.”

BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi addresses a press conference at the party headquarters in New Delhi on Saturday with Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva. (ANI)

This comes just days after lieutenant governor VK Saxena sacked the “specialists” owing to the “non-transparent manner” in which they were appointed.

In a press conference at the party headquarters, BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi and Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva named some “specialists” who were sacked by the LG. The BJP leaders also alleged that the “specialists” were working for the AAP.

“If a person does personal political work of Arvind Kejriwal or works for his staff while holding a government post, (then) Delhi is seeing a new form of corruption. Many of the employees sacked have also started deleting their social media accounts overnight because it was clearly visible in them that they were doing party work while taking government money,” Trivedi said.

“These allegations are not only laughable but also reflect the deep frustration of the BJP. The BJP has labelled these individuals, who are contractual employees of the Delhi government, as Aam Aadmi Party workers based on their social media posts or likes,” the AAP official said in a statement. In the statement, the AAP also said that two of the persons named by the BJP leaders had no affiliation with the Delhi government.

According to LG secretariat officials, said the sackings were done based on information received rom the services department from 23 departments and agencies which have engaged private persons as “specialists”.

They said that the 400 people who have been dismissed were appointed by the Delhi government as advisors, fellows, consultants, and senior research officers across the 22 departments and agencies in the Capital. “These private persons were engaged in a non-transparent manner and without the mandatory approvals of the competent authority. The appointments of these personnel also did not follow the mandatory reservation policy for SC/ST/OBC candidates prescribed by the department of personnel and training (DoPT),” an official said, declining to be named.