Lucknow, Sep 27 (IANS): The opposition parties Friday criticised the Uttar Pradesh government for transferring top cop Arun Kumar in the name of "public interest".

Alleging that Arun Kumar was shifted out as the additional director general (law and Order) as he refused to bow to the illegal diktats of the Akhilesh Yadav government, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanded the government come clean on what amounted to public interest.

"This is scandalous. How can the government say an official was removed in 'public interest', and still not spell out the cause," state BJP spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said. If the reason behind Arun Kumar's transfer was public interest, the government should explain it, and take action against the errant official, he added.

"We agree that the transfer and postings of officials is the prerogative of the state government and the chief minister, but one cannot shroud it ín 'public interest' when everyone knows that the transfer was done as the official was not towing the official line of appeasement of a certain community and was acting in accordance with law," Pathak told IANS.

State BJP president Lakshmikant Bajpai called the Akhilesh Yadav government's decision unfortunate, and said Muzaffarnagar Senior Superinetndent of Police (SSP) Praveen Kumar, who was being reportedly forced to slap the National Security Act on BJP legislators named in the riot FIRs, proceeded on medical leave.

"The chief minister and his government are hell bent on breaking the morale of the bureaucracy and the police force in order to serve their illegitimate political motives," he said.

Congress spokesman Amarnath feels frequent and unexplained transfers are detrimental for the morale of the force.