Vijayawada: The NDA alliance has stepped up the clamour for change of guard at the highest levels of bureaucracy in the state, particularly the Chief Secretary K.S. Jawahar Reddy and DGP K.V. Rajendranath Reddy.
Throwing away all the political etiquette to winds, state BJP chief Daggubati Purandeswari even went to the extent of asking the Election Commission to appoint her choice of officials in various posts, the incumbents of which are targeted by her.
She blatantly cited the two officers hailing from the Reddy community to which the Chief Minister also belongs to, as the prime reason for their ouster.
Highly placed sources told Deccan Chronicle that the NDA alliance might even have its way with the replacement likely in the next few days.
The names of senior bureaucrats Neerab Kumar Prasad and R.P. Sisodia are doing the rounds for CS and Dwaraka Tirumala Rao for the head of the police force.
“It is unfortunate that the TD has been trying to establish to people that it gained control over the electioneering by forcing changes at top levels of bureaucracy,” a senior official said while lamenting the politicisation of conduct of polls beyond a threshold.
The bone of contention was the recent disruption in distribution of social pensions at beneficiaries’ doorstep following the ECI intervention based on a complaint by former CEC and alleged aide of TD chief Nara Chandrababu Naidu.
The TD rushed to ECI blaming that the Chief Secretary didn’t ensure door delivery of pension amounts and instead made the beneficiaries queue up before village/ward secretariats.
The TD was put on the defensive by Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy who alleged that Naidu caused the death of 30 old pensioners while waiting at the offices under scorching sun.
Sources said TD’s top leadership didn’t want a repeat of the embarrassment and wanted a new CS to ensure door delivery of pensions not with volunteers but other state staff.
“We tied up with the BJP ignoring the possible damage in certain quarters only to gain by reigning in Jagan Mohan Reddy from misusing the state machinery and police force in particular,” a senior TD leader said, adding that the state BJP should ensure the change and bring in neutrality in law enforcement with deployment of more and more central forces.
The NDA also gunned for intelligence chief P.S.R. Anjaneyulu, CID chief N. Sanjay, IG vigilance and enforcement K. Raghurami Reddy and Vijayawada CP Kranti Rana Tata.
