Patibandla Srinivas
Amaravati: The role of Chief Secretary (CS) and the Director General Police (DGP) in the state has turned out to be a political controversy when the NDA parties including the Andhra Pradesh BJP lodged complaints against the officers with all the details to the Election Commission of India (ECI).
As per reports, the ECI has asked the officials for their clarification. The two officers belong to the same community as the Chief Minister. The Director General of Police (DGP) and the Chief Secretary are also natives of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s district. Surprisingly Rajendra Reddy became the DGP when the state government did not consider the seniority of almost four other IPS officers. As per the service rules any DGP can be appointed on the basis of seniority from the panel of the list. Moreover, the IPS officer is not in full charge. The question has arisen in the official circles whether the temporary officer can be continued in the DGP’s post at the time of general elections also.
However, the rules were not followed in the present DGP’s appointment issue. Moreover, he belongs to the same community and the same district as the Chief Minister. When the officer has been posted in an important post violating service rules now the community and nativity are also made a debatable topic.
The major allegation of NDA parties is both the officers who lead the government machinery are working in favor of the YSR Congress. BJP president D Purandeswari, TDP politburo member Varla Ramaiah, and Jana Sena senior leader Nadendla Manohar have submitted their complaints to the Election Commission of India (ECI).
The leaders mentioned several incidents and submitted details that happened in the state for the past some time. Against this backdrop, the ECI is collecting the information and asking the officials for their clarification. The ECI may take action at any point of time based on the ground reports and also finding several lapses that happened during their posting time.
A large number of police cases have been booked against the people who questioned the state government’s functioning. Similarly, the Chief Secretary also did not take any action as per the rules. How the elections can be conducted in a free and fair system when both the officers are in the same posts, NDA leaders wonder.
TDP politburo member Varla Ramaiah demanded that both officers should be transferred immediately.
