For quite some time, there have been reports that Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu is giving a lot of importance to the bureaucrats at the cost of the party MLAs and ministers.
Very recently, the MLAs of the Telugu Desam Party-led coalition wrote to assembly speaker Ch Ayyanna Patrudu alleging that the IAS and IPS officers were not following protocol at their constituency level and were not giving appointment to the elected representatives despite making them wait for hours.
Amidst these reports, a latest development has indicated the simmering discontent within the state bureaucracy over the style of functioning of Naidu and his alleged targeting of select IAS and IPS officers.
According to sources, some senior IAS and IPS officers recently held a secret meeting at a star hotel in Hyderabad to discuss the ongoing developments in Andhra Pradesh, wherein the Naidu government has been resorting to witch-hunt of the officers who played a key role during the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government.
Sources said the meeting had deliberated upon the arrest of senior IPS officer P S R Anjaneyulu in Kadambari Jethwani case and the suspension of other IPS officers like Vishal Gunni, Kanti Rana Tata, P V Sunil Kumar, P Joshua and N Sanjay etc.
They also discussed about the arrest of retired IAS officer Dhanunjay Reddy and denial of posting to several IAS and IPS officers who worked under the Jagan government, including Y Srilakshmi, Kolli Raghurami Reddy etc.
“While the government can take action against the officials against whom there is concrete evidence, it is not appropriate to target them just because they had worked in the close corridors of the Jagan government,” the officials reportedly felt.
They wondered what the fate of the present IAS and IPS officers, if Jagan returns to power after four years and adopts a similar vindictive stand.
“After all, bureaucrats work under pressure whoever is in power. You can target the politicians, not the officials,” they reportedly felt.
Some other IAS officers also reportedly expressed dissatisfaction over the key postings being given to retired IAS officers, while ignoring those in service and having clean record. They also expressed discontent over the indiscriminate transfers and postings of the officials.
After the meeting was over, some seniors had met chief secretary K Vijayanand and brought these issues to his notice.
The chief secretary, in turn, brought this to the notice of the chief minister, who did not take their secret meeting seriously.
“What were these IAS officers doing when the previous Jagan government was targeting several of their colleagues in the past? In any case, I shall talk to them individually and collectively to allay all their apprehensions and address to their genuine concerns,” Naidu reportedly said.
