Hyderabad: Ever critical of Congress leaders, especially Telangana CM Revanth Reddy, Bharat Rashtra Samithi working president K.T. Rama Rao has now ruffled the feathers of the state’s IAS and IPS associations.
MLA from Sircilla and former IT, industries and municipal administration minister of Telangana, KTR accused the district collector of Sircilla Tuesday of operating like a Congress worker and encouraging defections of local leaders while addressing a BRS party meeting in the district. A 2014 batch IAS officer, Sandeep Kumar Jha, is the collector of Sircilla in central Telangana.
The IAS body has now demanded that KTR apologise for his remarks. Showing solidarity, the IPS officers’ forum has questioned KTR’s “baseless allegations against the Sircilla collector, attempting to question his integrity and impartiality”.
KTR has, so far, not commented on either move.
“The CM has been trying to trouble me. But I will not be cowed down by threats as long as I get public support. The creation of the Sircilla district could happen because of (former CM) KCR’s benevolence. We also built a majestic collectorate here. But now, a Congress worker is sitting in the collector chair in disguise of the collector,” KTR remarked publicly at a preparatory meeting for the BRS’s Deeksha Diwas.
Celebrating the Deeksha Diwas on Friday, BRS commemorated the 15th anniversary of then-chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s 2009 fast-unto-death protest for Telangana statehood. As the health of the patriarch of the then-Telangana Rashtra Samithi deteriorated and law and order concerns rose, the Manmohan Singh-led UPA-2 government announced the intent to carve a separate Telangana on 9 December.
Continuing his speech, KTR said, “The collector (of Sircilla) is directly imploring our leaders to join the Congress. Such a great and talented collector ours is. They have deployed such ‘sannasi (idiot/useless)’ officers here to carry out their vendetta politics,” KTR said, adding that such people, however, can not harm the party.
After a two-term government, the BRS has been in the Opposition for roughly a year now since the party’s defeat by the Revanth Reddy-led Congress party.
“Revanth or any other power can not harm us. Impediments are common in life, but we will also see how far their dramas using official machinery, such as collectors and police officials, go. Let me announce this and keep it written. I am not that good of a person. We will keep a tab on all those overacting and operating like Congress workers, and I will make them repay with interest,” KTR warned as party workers cheered him on.
KTR’s accusations came two weeks after locals protesting a proposed land acquisition for a pharma cluster in Lagacharla village manhandled Vikarabad District Collector Prateek Jain, along with the additional collector and other officials.
The Revanth government and ministers have accused the BRS of instigating the violence, while the police have arrested a former BRS legislator Patnam Narender Reddy in connection with the incident.
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‘Unwarranted attack, offer apology’
On Thursday, the Telangana IAS Association issued a statement strongly condemning the “derogatory statement by MLA Sircilla against the collector and district magistrate of Rajanna Sircilla district”. The association also demanded that KTR retract the statements and “offer an apology for the unwarranted remarks made”.
“It is disturbing to note that it is becoming a norm to cast aspersions on public servants by persons occupying responsible public offices. In an unfortunate public remark, the collector was personally targeted and belittled in a manner that undermines the dignity of an officer holding such an important position in the state’s administration and civil services at large,” the statement said.
Sandeep Kumar Jha, made joint MD of the Telangana electricity transmission corporation after Revanth took charge in December, was sent to Sircilla earlier this year as the collector.
“Further, questions were raised on his (Jha’s) impartiality. Public servants of all ranks work tirelessly to serve the people and ensure effective governance of the state—often in challenging circumstances. We urge the concerned to reflect upon the gravity of such statements and their impact on the morale of officers serving the public with utmost sincerity and commitment,” the statement read.
The Telangana IPS association too strongly condemned KTR’s comments.
“Such remarks are a direct affront to the principles of governance and the constitutional mandate under which civil servants operate. Officers are duty-bound to uphold the rule of law and serve the public without fear or favour, and unwarranted attacks of this nature are both irresponsible and detrimental to democratic institutions,” the IPS association’s resolution said.
The association emphasised that its members “stand firmly with the officer and reiterate our collective commitment to safeguarding the dignity, independence, and impartiality of the civil services.” It also called for an immediate cessation of “such unfounded accusations” and urged “all stakeholders to engage in discourse that respects institutional integrity and the rule of law”.
While KTR was unavailable for a comment, his office confirmed that the former minister was yet to react.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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