A Whatsapp chat of two women bureaucrats in Shahdol district caused flutter in both political and bureaucratic circles of Madhya Pradesh on Friday.
The chat screenshot went viral in which the local collector is asking the deputy collector to work in favor of the Bharatiya Janata Party during just concluded assembly polls. However one of the officers involved in the chat—deputy collector Puja Tiwari, has denied any such conversation with the collector claiming she has lodged an FIR with local police urging them to initiate action against those who prepared this forged clip of the chat.
In the viral chat, Tiwari messages the collector Anubha Srivastava that the Congress candidate Uma Dhurve was taking lead in Jaitpur assembly constituency and the collector reportedly responds to her saying she should ensure a BJP win if she wanted to take charge as SDM after the polls.
Tiwari who is serving on probation cautiously agrees asking whether it could pose any trouble for her later to which the collector responds that she need not be concerned as she was there to take care. Srivastava also promised her she would be handed charge as SDM once BJP wins.
While talking to media persons, after an FIR against unidentified persons was registered, Tiwari claimed that she was posted as Assistant Returning Officer at Jaisinghnagar and had no control over what was happening at Jaitpur. “We are also not allowed to keep mobile phones inside the counting centre,” clarified the officer saying she was busy in the counting of postal ballots around same time when the said chat had taken place. Declining to name anyone, the officer termed this a conspiracy against her and the district collector.
On the other hand, the collector however termed the viral chat mischievous act from someone.