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What Else Can One Expect From Him?

“It is not merit but favoritism that is responsible for these appointments. Chandrababu Naidu and Venkayya Naidu are working hand-in-glove to ensure that all major appointees to educational institutions are from the Kamma community although they are not qualified to hold those positions,” said Kanchi Ilaiah.

Amid uproar that Appa Rao became the VC of UoH due to his political connections, activists are crying hoarse that people from the Kamma community are at the helm of a majority of centrally-run research bodies now.

Even as the University of Hyderabad has a Kamma vice-chancellor, as many as five other academic institutes too have people from the same community at the helm.

These include the National Academy for Research Management, whose director is D Rama Rao, the National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management with director general V Usha Rani, the Indian Institute of Rice Research headed by director V Ravindra Rao, the Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture under director Ch Srinivas Rao and the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology which is headed by director Ch Mohan Rao, all hailing from the Kamma community.

The director posts in these institutions are akin to the vice-chancellor rank.

Political scientist, Haragopal said, “It is crystal clear that the Kamma community has been given preference thanks to Venkaiah Naidu and Chandrababu Naidu having their say at the Centre. I think the President has to play his role and ensure more freedom to the search committees. He must be proactive in keeping caste politics at bay when it comes to appointments for the top pots in academic institutions.”

His thoughts found resonance elsewhere as well. “They say the educational institutions must be free from caste discrimination. But when it comes to practice, they do exactly the opposite,” said Aldas Janaiah, senior scientist and agronomist.

Responding to these charges , AP BJP State President, K Haribabu said, “The appointments for the academic institutions are the prerogative of the ministry of human resource development. How can any minister who is not in-charge of the ministry play a role in it? The appointments are no doubt on merit basis.”

Well, what else can one expect from Hari Babu? After all, he also belongs to the same community.

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