Suvendu Adhikari writes to Ashwini Vaishnaw seeking probe into Bengal govt, I-PAC 'nexus'

Kolkata, Aug 11 (IANS) The Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, on Monday, wrote a letter to Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw, requesting an urgent inquiry into the alleged unholy and illegal collusion between the state administration and the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC).

According to the LoP, there was mounting evidence that I-PAC associates, who were employees of a private political consultancy firm working for the ruling Trinamool Congress, had infiltrated the state government and Administration.

“They are reportedly issuing directives to senior officials, including WBCS Executive Officers and WB Cadre IAS Officers. This is a blatant misuse of power, blurring the lines between party politics and public service, and potentially draining our state exchequer to fund TMC’s campaign management agency,” said Adhikari in a social media statement that he issued in the afternoon.

Adhikari apprehended that it could be a financial scam as well and a betrayal of the trust of every citizen of West Bengal.

He claimed that he had requested to conduct a thorough investigation through the National Informatics Centre (NIC) to ascertain digital trails of unauthorised I-PAC involvement in state government communications, misuse of the state’s Information Technology resources by non-governmental entities, violations of data privacy and cyber-security norms and Illegitimate payments, if any, from public funds to I-PAC.

“This is not just an administrative issue; it’s a threat to our democracy. I am committed to fighting this systematic rot,” Adhikari added.

Last week, the LoP highlighted an instance which he claimed to be an example of how I-PAC, the vote strategy agency working for strategising Trinamool Congress’ public relations exercises since the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections, is now being allowed to dictate terms in internal administrative matters of the state government.

Adhikari posted on his X handle the screenshot of an email communique sent from Avesh Singh, a representative of I-PAC, to the director of information and ex-officio, additional secretary to the state information and cultural affairs department.

In the said email communique, the I-PAC representative was seen providing the state government official with drive links to the key design assets for a particular state government project, “Amader Para, Amader Samadhan (Our locality, our solution)”.

Adhikari had also launched a scathing attack against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the state administration on this issue and claimed that she allowed illegal Bangladeshi Muslim immigrants to settle down in West Bengal, and now she was permitting I-PAC people to breach the administrative boundaries of the state government.

--IANS

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