Amritsar East constituency: Moved on, says BJP candidate Jagmohan Raju on plaint against PMO officers

Tribune News Service

Neeraj Bagga

Amritsar, February 5

Having complained against four senior IAS officials of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), retired Tamil Nadu-cadre bureaucrat Jagmohan Singh Raju, BJP candidate from Amritsar East, has moved on.

Pitted against heavyweights PCC president Navjot Singh Sidhu and SAD’s Bikram Singh Majithia, Raju no longer wants to pursue his complaint filed in 2019. On its present status, he says: “Chorr aye woh galiyan” (I left those streets).

Will revive agri in debt-ridden state

Punjab is in debt. Either the Centre or multinational companies will have to invest. The BJP govt will be a boon for agriculture in state. —Jagmohan Singh Raju

The retired Additional Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu had accused the bureaucrats, including the senior-most, of thwarting his elevation due to his Dalit background. A visiting fellow at Cambridge, Raju had sent a legal notice to them for thwarting his career growth. He had alleged his batchmates were elevated as secretary while he

was denied the position. He had even tried to file a complaint at a police station in Tamil Nadu.

Son of a Dalit rights activist, late Karam Singh Raju, a former Punjab bureaucrat, Raju authored critically acclaimed book “Ramrajya-People’s Welfare State” and travelled over 50 countries during his 35 years of service.

On the democratic composition of his constituency, comprising urban, semi-urban, rural and Dalit voters, Raju says: “There is a natural affinity with the community. They certainly want a good candidate from their community to represent them.”

On being pitted against the heavyweights, he says people are genuinely scared that if such leaders come to power, the lives of their children will be vulnerable to drugs.

Only a few weeks into politics, Raju doesn’t feel he has been given a short duration to familiarise with voters. “It is the typical style of PM Narendra Modi — to keep his trump card ready for the last moment.”

On farmers’ anger against the BJP, he says the agitation is an event of the past and people have moved on. “Agriculture is in a bad shape as it has reached the stagnation point. Water table is depleting. So modernisation has to take place and infrastructure needs to be created. From where will the funds come? The Punjab Government is in debt. Either the Centre or multinational companies will have to invest. The BJP government will be a boon for agriculture in state,” he adds.

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