india

Updated: Jul 15, 2019 23:33 IST

A Madhya Pradesh minister sparked a controversy on Monday as he took a swipe at the opposition BJP saying it has a “mentality like dogs” after the saffron party flagged the transfer 46 police dogs and their handlers last week.

“BJP people said dogs have been transferred. It should have been better had they said that the dog squad has been transferred. Their mentality is like dogs. So we can’t help it,” Sajjan Singh Verma said in Jhabua district when asked about the BJP’s objection to the transfer of the dog squads.

Even as the transfer of the dog squads became a bone of contention between the Congress and the BJP, the ruling party sought to make it clear on Monday that there was nothing new in the transfers.

As many as 46 dog handlers of special armed force (SAF) were transferred a few days ago from their respective districts to other districts prompting the BJP to launch an attack on the Congress government. The BJP alleged that ‘the state government didn’t spare even dogs in its transfer industry’.

As per the transfer order, the dog handlers are supposed to carry the dogs that they look after with them to their new place of posting.

Responding to the minister’s remarks the state BJP spokesperson and MLA Rameshwar Sharma said, “We have no problem in accepting that we are loyal dogs of people of Madhya Pradesh. We will continue to raise our voice for people of the state.”

Meanwhile, the state Congress president’s media coordinator Narendra Saluja said ex-chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan made the transfer of dog handlers a big issue whereas the fact was during the then BJP regime too the dog handlers were transferred.