With the Supreme Court cancelling the suspension of senior IPS officer and former Andhra Pradesh intelligence chief A B Venkateshwara Rao and ordering his reinstatement in service, all eyes are on what the Jagan Mohan Reddy government do.
There are two options before the Jagan government: to reinstate Venkateshwara Rao in the service and give him some insignificant post, while continuing the corruption case against him; or fix him in some other case and suspend him again.
According to sources, the chances of Jagan choosing the second option are more.
“There is no question of the chief minister allowing Venkateshwara Rao to get back his job, especially after the latter indirectly calling him a psycho and a sadist. And the IPS officer, too, would not like to join the job and go to Tadepalli camp office to salute the chief minister,” sources said.
There is already a case of indiscipline and violation of service rules against Venkateshwara Rao and taking advantage of it, he might be suspended from the service afresh on disciplinary grounds.
“Obviously, he would move the court again and the issue gets dragged for some more months, so that Jagan doesn’t want to see him in the office as long as he is in power,” sources said.
There is also a talk that the IPS officer might be reinstated after the court orders but would be given a very insignificant post in the police department under a junior officer.
He would again move the court definitely and the issue would continue to drag for some more months.
In the meantime, Venkateshwara Rao would attain the age of superannuation by May 2024, when the next elections are due.
It remains to be seen whether he would be reinstated or continue to be under suspension till such time.
