The Haryana unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has appointed district general secretary Ramesh Saini as officiating Kurukshetra unit president, replacing Tejender Singh Goldy.
The orders, issued on Sunday by state general secretary Surender Punia, mention no reason for the replacement.
However, the development comes days after two audio clips allegedly involving Goldy went viral on social media. However, HT could not independently verify the veracity of the clips.
In the recordings, accessed by HT, two individuals can be heard discussing the arrangement of a home guard job, allegedly through the chief minister’s officer on special duty (OSD), and the alleged money paid for the said purpose.
In the audio clip, ‘one of the individuals assures the caller that he has allegedly spoken to the OSD and his work will be completed’. The other person can allegedly be heard asking about the status of a job request for his relative and the alleged money paid’.
Goldy could not be contacted for comment despite repeated attempts. There was also no response from state chief Gupta to the calls and texts made.
After the controversy, the opposition raised questions about the BJP’s claims of merit-based job recruitment. Addressing the media in Chandigarh, former chief minister and leader of the Opposition (LoP) Bhupinder Singh Hooda claimed, “It has become blatantly clear how hollow the government claims are. I have been saying from the very beginning that jobs in Haryana are being sold and outsiders are being recruited.”
“The racket involving extortion in the name of government jobs in Haryana has been exposed after the alleged audio clip of the Kurukshetra BJP president went viral. Jobs are being openly auctioned off. Now, money is being demanded even for low-level positions,” Hooda alleged.
