In a bureaucratic rejig that raised more eyebrows than applause, Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, 17 months into office, has stirred the CMO pot with surprise choices. Most striking was the elevation of retired IAS officer K.S. Sreenivasa Raju to principal secretary in the Chief Minister’s Office. Raju, known more for his tenure as TTD EO than trailblazing governance, was until now an adviser on infrastructure. CMO corridors buzzed louder with the quiet exits of Shahnawaz Qasim and Sangeeta Satyanarayana, and the likely departure of G. Chandrashekar Reddy, tipped to become Chief Information Commissioner. But the wildcard entry came in the form of Jayesh Ranjan, once a BRS-tenure favourite, now crowned CEO of the newly formed Investment Cell in CMO. Congress insiders squirmed, but Revanth has plans: he wants to tap Jayesh’s MNC-magnetism for Telangana’s growth story. In a candid aside to media, Revanth confessed he’s keeping some officers “for lack of alternatives.”
For babus, the files zoom quickly
In a rare twist that has tongues wagging in bureaucratic circles, retired IAS officer A. Santhi Kumari and retired IPS officer V.B. Kamalasan Reddy have earned the nickname ‘Luckiest Bureaucrats’ of the season. Both hung up their boots on April 30 – only to be handed new ones the same day. Kumari, who retired as Chief Secretary, was swiftly reappointed vice-chairperson of the MCRHRDI. Reddy, the outgoing DG of the Drugs Control Administration-Telangana, now finds himself juggling not one, but two high-profile roles: OSD of the Intelligence Security Wing and director of the Police Integrated Command and Control Centre. Their synchronised retirements and reappointments are being called everything from ‘bureaucratic deja vu’ to ‘divine file movement’.
Where nights are to be spent at home
What worked once before may just work again. With this apparent motto, Nizamabad commissioner of police P Sai Chaitanya, has launched ‘Operation Chabutra’ in the Nizamabad commissionerate limit to cut down late night truancy among youths. Chaitanya as the DCP for south zone of Hyderabad in the past had led a similar programme fairly successfully and is said to be hoping the strategy of keeping young people, and the streets safe at night. The operation in Quilla Road, Ahmadpura, Bodhan Road, Malapally, Canal Katta, Khoja Colony, NRI Colony, Autonagar, Mujahidnagar, Dharmapuri Hills, and Mumbadevi areas has been paying off with a sudden drop in midnight bike races, and biryani hotels, pan shops, and belt shops shutting down on time.
Vivek powers up his chances
With the Cabinet expansion in Telangana still up in the air, it seems that there is still time to catch the eye of the people who matter for those aspiring for a ministerial berth in the state. Recently, Chennur MLA Gaddam Vivek, aspiring for a ministry as and when the Cabinet is expanded, had none other than Rahul Gandhi inaugurate in Rae Bareli a two-mega watt solar power roof plant. The plant was set up by Gaddam Vamsi, Vivek’s son who heads a solar power, and electric mobility units of the company the Gaddam family runs. With a cold war already at a near freezing point between Manchreial MLA Kokkiral Premsagar Rao and Vivek over who gets into the Cabinet, the Gaddam family is hoping that with Rahul now aware of their contributions, the sun might shine on Vivek finally.
-=-=-=—
BRS falls back on a movie slogan
The BRS may have strived really hard to make its recent silver jubilee public meeting in Warangal a success, but what caught the eyes of those who made to the event, was a huge poster of the title character of the movie ‘Pushpa 2’. Proving that box office record-breakers can also help score a political point, the huge flexi had the words ‘KCR isn’t just a name, it’s a BRAND!’, paraphrasing one of the movie’s catchlines. As film fanboyism and party devotion lines got blurred, the flexi apparently did its job with countless people taking its pictures and sharing it on social media.
Meenakshi gets an earful
One may be forgiven for believing that storms in a tea cup are a common phenomenon in the Congress. One such tiny storm spilled over to the saucer the other day, when party Munugode MLA Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy, reportedly gave AICC Telangana in-charge Meenakshi Natarajanan an earful, stating that not all party leaders were being paid attention at meetings. He finished his say with a caution that this approach was diminishing the standing of such leaders among the party cadre, and the public. Raj Gopal, known to speak his mind, had previously called party elder K. Jana Reddy a ‘Duryodhana’, and how two ministers from Nalgonda district, N. Uttam Kumar Reddy and Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, were capable candidates for the Chief Minister’s post. The word doing the rounds in the party circles is not to go by what Raj Gopal says but to read between the lines.
Back to the future: BJP on census twist
Claiming credit can be at times a tricky business. Just ask the BJP in Telangana which has been at pains to point out that it should get some credit for the NDA government’s announcement on caste enumeration in the country. With the Congress claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accepted its demand on the subject, pushed into the defence after the Congress government in Telangana conducted a caste enumeration, the BJP sort of rose to the challenge. BJP OBC Morcha president Dr K. Laxman listed out history by stating that Nehru and Rajiv Gandhi had opposed BC reservations and so on. The claim was that the BJP’s late Sushma Swaraj had sought such an enumeration back in 2010 in a letter to then Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee. There was no clear answer to a question why it took so long for the BJP government at the Centre to make the announcement, given the fact that the party has been at the helm of affairs since 2014.
Jana Sena MLA gets deadly serious
It’s no secret that politicians will not hesitate to resort to any means to hang on to what they have, especially when under some pressure. Such happens to be the case with the Jana Sena’s Bolisetti Srinivas, Tadepalligudem MLA, who the other day said that someone whom he trusted, was waiting for his death so that person could step into his shoes and, when the bypolls came, become the legislator. The apparent target was the TD’s Tadepalligudem convener Valavala Babji, who reportedly claimed credit for Srinivas’ win, and has been holding meetings with various officials on matters related to the constituency. Things soon escalated and a patch up was organised at Amaravati between the two leaders, at least for now.
Jagan’s top aide now looks for pals
Senior IAS officer K. Dhananjay Reddy who once ruled the roost in the CMO when Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy was AP Chief Minister, is said to be searching for friends to bail him out in the multi-crore AP liquor scam case in which the High Court denied him, well, bail. Once known as the key man in the CMO, Dhananjay Reddy apparently did not make many friends, and now, the past is beginning to bother him as there is none rushing to his rescue, or even willing to help him from a distance. In the words of a former MLA, Dhananjay Reddy did not even allow legislators to meet the then CM, and was a barrier that was hard to surmount.
Andhra varsity goes out of syllabus with VIP invites
Andhra University’s grand centenary celebrations kicked off with much pomp on April 26, honouring its 100-year legacy, but apparently, someone forgot to send an important invitation. Especially with Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu was just across town inaugurating Andhra Medical College’s centenary building. Vizag MP Sribharat, who was at the AU event, made it clear that though he was not invited, he made it a point to attend the centenary bash as MPs may have no option but to gatecrash some events, especially if they are in their constituencies. The major milestone for AU passed off otherwise uneventfully but a discussion on why the CM was not invited, or if he was, he could not make it is currently doing the rounds in the campus.
Contributions from Neeraj Kumar, Narender Pulloor, Aruna, Sampat G. Samritan, Puli Sharath Kumar, L. Venkat Ram Reddy, P. Srinivas, Avinash P. Subramanyam, Pillalamarri Srinivas