Ex-home secy now BJP man, won't react to his charges: Shinde

New Delhi, Jan 16: Home Minister

on Thursday refused to react to RK Singh's allegations against him, saying he no longer considered the retired bureaucrat as being a former home secretary but saw him as a politician and

man.

"Singh is now a political man. His allegations are political in nature. He is now with BJP. I do not see him as a former home secretary but as a BJP man. I will not react to his allegations," he told reporters here. Singh has claimed that the home minister had allegedly interfered with the transfers and postings of Delhi Police.

He has also accused Shinde of having given wrong information in the matter of the US helping India bring back underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. Singh also remarked that Shinde was not fit to be Home Minister and said Chidambaram was "100 times better" than him. Singh joined BJP in December of last year and may contest the Lok Sabha polls from Bihar.

Shinde said his Congress party and ministerial colleagues had already reacted to Singh's allegations. Congress has questioned the "opportunistic" and "low" behaviour of the officer. Party general secretary Digvijay Singh claimed that the former home secretary had tried to get a post-retirement position from UPA.

"Shocked at the opportunistic behaviour of RK Singh, ex HS. Why did he not bring this to the notice of the Cabinet Secretary or the PM ? "Is it not a fact that he tried to get a post-retirement position from UPA? Is it not a fact that he had approached Nitish (Kumar) for a position?," Digvijay had said on Twitter.

I&B Minister Manish Tewari, too, has asked why the bureaucrat had not spoken up earlier. Tewari criticised what he said was a tendency after retirement among bureaucrats to speak out against their former bosses.

"I think it is extremely unfortunate. You have this very pernicious tendency of bureaucrats after retirement trying to make allegations in order to occupy media space," Tewari had said. If Singh, or anybody else, was really so concerned, then why was not the matter put on record while they were in service, Tewari had asked.

PTI