If you have a dog in the fight, never let it go. So it seems seeing the ruling Congress and the BJP hurl charges at each other over the transfer of 46 police dogs and their handlers in Madhya Pradesh.
Hitting back at the Opposition party for saying that the State government has not spared even police dogs and their handlers from transfers, the Congress on Tuesday came up with a list of canines transferred by the previous BJP regime.
“There is nothing unusual about the transfers, whether of officials or dogs. It is the prerogative of the government to see who is needed where, and the BJP can’t dictate us on that. They are making a laughing stock of themselves,” Shobha Oza, State Congress media chief, said.
Party workers produced an 18-page document listing orders issued by the BJP government from June 2012 to March 2018 transferring dogs and their handlers at the residence of the then Chief Miniser Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
In a tweet on July 13, BJP State president Rakesh Singh wondered why were dogs, which could not communicate with humans directly, transferred to a location more than 500 km away.
Stating that the change of government had necessitated the transfers as the BJP had not complied with the transfer policy during its 15-year regime, Ms. Oza said, “Then, officials remained posted at one place for five or six years, flouting the policy which mandates their transfers after every three years. The new government had to correct the wrong, stick to the rules and transfer officials.”
“One day, you transfer several DSPs (Deputy Superintendent of Police) and the next day you cancel the transfers of most of them. This shows how corrupt the Congress is. For them, governance is not jan sewa (serving people), it is jeb sewa (lining one’s pocket),” State BJP spokesman Gulrez Sheikh said.
Dog’s mentality
Public Works Department Minister Sajjan Singh Verma told presspersons that the BJP leaders were making such accusations as they had a “dog’s mentality”.
Mr. Sheikh retorted, “Yes, we have a dog’s mentality. We are loyal to the people and work for them.”
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