KCR silences critics, appoints dalit babu as CMO secretary

HYDERABAD: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao appointed senior IAS officer Rahul Bojja as secretary in the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) to monitor the implementation of Dalit Bandhu scheme. Bojja becomes the first IAS officer from the Dalit community to get a posting in the CMO since the formation of Telangana State.

Rao announced this on Monday while addressing a public meeting at Huzurabad after launching the Dalit Bandhu scheme.

Bojja is currently serving as principal secretary of the social welfare department. He was appointed secretary of the TS Welfare

Residential Educational Institutions Society (TSWREIS) in July after R.S. Praveen Kumar took voluntary retirement after serving in the post for nearly eight years.

Rao showered praises on Bojja and his father Bojja Tharakam, a human rights advocate, who had dedicated his life to the service of Dalits.

The Chief Minister's sudden announcement on the appointment is being seen as a move to silence his critics about the CMO not having a Dalit officer for the past seven years.

Like many Opposition parties, BJP leader Etala Rajendar has been aggressively campaigning in Huzurabad and alleging that the CM talking about Dalit Bandhu and Dalit empowerment was fake and aimed at gaining political mileage in the run-up to the Huzurabad Assembly byelection. Rajendar had said that if Rao was really sincere about Dalit empowerment, he should first appoint a Dalit IAS officer in his office.

The Chief Minister is facing severe criticism for allegedly neglecting Dalit IAS and IPS officers by giving them insignificant posts.

After Akunuri Murali, a Dalit IAS officer who took voluntary retirement in July 2019 alleging discrimination, and Praveen Kumar, the appointment of Bojja is being seen as a timely damage-control exercise.