Friday, August 19 2005 11:02 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Patna: A recommendatory letter, purported to have been written by Bihar Governor Buta Singh to Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, seeking favour for two senior railway officers has sparked off a controversy with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) terming it as immoral and denigration of the post and prestige of the office of the Governor.

In a letter to Railway Minister, dispatched vide D.O. no. 135/2005 dated July 5, 2005, Governor Buta Singh had requested for posting of Vijay P Meshram, Chief Materials Manager (South Eastern Railway), who was on study leave up to July 15, 2005 as Controllor of Stores of the Central Railway.

Singh had also recommended posting Girish Bhatnagar, another officer of the Indian Railway Service as AGM, Central Railway (Mumbai).

The Governor, in his letter, had further stated that Meshram had worked for 20 years in South Eastern Railway at Kolkata, Kharagpur, Tatanagar, Bhubaneshwar, Vishakhapatnam, Raipur, Nagpur and three years in Dew in Patiala in Punjab.

The leak of his letter has generated controversy with the NDA already demanding Governor's recall, dubbing it as an immoral act and denigration of the post and prestige of the high office of a constitutional authority.

State Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Sushil Kumar Modi, MP, charged Buta Singh with being 'hand-in-glove' with Lalu Prasad and running the state administration at the latter's behest.