Gandhinagar, Aug 13 (IANS) Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi Saturday sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention to stop "such blatant interference" from union ministers, especially Home Minister P.Chidambaram, which encourages indiscipline among some "delinquent" police officers of Gujarat cadre.
In a letter to the prime minister, Modi said this is the second time that the home minister has intervened in favour of such police officers and is thus encouraging indiscipline.
"Some other senior ministers of the union cabinet have also made similar statements before the media. These statements are strictly against the centre-state relationship protocol and a dangerous threat to the federal set-up of Indian governance," he wrote in the letter, copies of which were released here.
"When the Union Government supports such indisciplined conduct of an All India Service Officer, then it should be a matter of concern for the entire nation. In other words, one is indirectly encouraging the political activities by service officers. Such blatant interference from central government will destroy the very fabric of federal structure," he wrote.
Modi contended that the "series of such incidents during last two years" seemed to indicate "a definite pattern of conspiracy in meddling with Gujarat's affairs".
"Such selective interference is a cause for major concern, as it goes against constitutional principles. Unfortunately, it appears that UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government at the centre is a party to these activities, in one way or other, with a strong hidden agenda to destabilize a progressive and performing state like Gujarat," he said.
Modi made it clear that the central government cannot intervene in the cases that fall under the jurisdiction of the state.
"The police officers are to discipline the society and in discharge of their duties they are supposed to set up high standards. It is surprising that an officer who was absent from duty continuously for 10 months unauthorisedly is being defended by the Union Government. Any misconduct, dereliction of duty and recalcitrant behaviour of the officers cannot be tolerated, failing which it will lead to anarchy in government," he added.
The letter came in wake of a statement by Chidambaram Friday that the central government had the right to "look into" the cases of two Indian Police Service (IPS) officers who are facing disciplinary action from the Modi government.
The Gujarat government recently suspended Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Sanjiv Bhatt, who had filed a public interest litigation in the apex court court against Modi over the post-Godhra riots in 2002.
Rahul Sharma, another DIG, was issued a show cause notice for providing some telephone call records against Modi to the special investigation team (SIT) probing the riots of 2002.