Retd babus take exception to Naidu's conduct, complain to Governor

United Andhra Pradesh was known for its fairly neutral and apolitical bureaucracy. There were hardly any instances of confrontation between civil servants and their political masters. The interactions between the two have been largely dignified and mutually respectful.

But now, in an unprecedented move, 34 retired IAS officers, including some former chief secretaries, have complained to Andhra Pradesh Governor E S L Narasimhan about the “objectionable” style of functioning of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

The representation by former bureaucrats comes as a major embarrassment for Naidu who is already at loggerheads with the Election Commission over transfer of key officials in the state before the elections and also over the alleged malfunctioning of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in the simultaneous elections to the Assembly and Lok Sabha on April 11.

The retired bureaucrats raised serious objections over Naidu’s “intemperate remarks” against L V Subrahmanyam and the state’s Chief Electoral Officer Gopalkrishna Dwivedi.
The representation, signed by 34 retired IAS officers of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, was submitted to the Governor at Raj Bhavan by a delegation of 12 retired officials, led by former chairman of Visakhapatnam Port Trust T Gopala Rao. The senior-most among the signatories is C S Rangachari, an IAS officer of 1958 batch.

Naidu ticks off chief secretary

The Chief Minister has made known his displeasure over the Election Commission’s order of transferring chief secretary Anil Chandra Punetha and replacing him with Subrahmanyam early this month. On the polling day on April 11, Naidu publicly pulled up the top bureaucrat for visiting the police headquarters to monitor the law and order situation.

“What are you doing? What was the need for it?” Naidu chided.

In an unusual move, the Chief Minister also questioned Subrahmanyam’s credentials, saying he was one of the accused in an illegal assets case involving the opposition leader Jagan Mohan Reddy. However, the High Court had dismissed the case against the IAS officer in the past.

“It is unbecoming of a Chief Minister to cast aspersions on his own chief secretary. Subrahmanyam is known to all of us as an outstanding officer. When the cases (against him) have been quashed by the High Court, it is unfortunate that the CM is referring to him as an accused,” former chief secretary I V R Krishna Rao said.

In their petition to the Governor, the former bureaucrats said that in matters relating to the conduct of elections, such behaviour and utterances would damage the credibility of the highest officials in the bureaucracy and in the process also harm the image of the head of the government. Such behaviour would also challenge the legitimate authority of the Election Commission.

They urged the Governor, as the head of the state, to take necessary action so that such attempts to “publicly belittle and humiliate” senior officials of the state would not recur.
“It must be remembered that it was the Chief Election Commissioner who appointed the senior-most IAS officers from a panel of three names submitted by the Andhra Pradesh government when the poll panel decided to change the existing chief secretary. Subrahmanyam was appointed by the EC to ensure free and impartial conduct of elections,” the retired bureaucrats said.

CEO too faces CM’s wrath

Naidu also called on the state Chief Electoral Officer Gopal Krishna Dwivedi at his office a day before the polling and entered into an argument with him over transferring officials as per the EC’s directions without verifying facts. “Where is the need for a CEO in the state when he blindly implements all the directions of the EC without verifying the facts?” the Chief Minister had said.

Taking umbrage over his conduct, the retired bureaucrats said the way the Chief Minister tried to intimidate the official is not in the best traditions of the administration and that he must desist from such actions in future.

“The serving officers will have limitations in reacting to such outbursts from political leaders. So, as retired officers, we wanted to highlight this issue so that people would come to know of the facts,” said Krishna Rao, who had served as chief secretary in Naidu’s regime earlier.

“Naidu’s intimidating behaviour with the CEO was unbecoming of a public figure and it amounted to undermining the dignity of the IAS officers and to muzzle the democracy,” Gopal Rao, another retired bureaucrat said.

Meanwhile, several voluntary and civil society organisations, including the JNU Alumni, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh University Employees Pensioners’ Federation, and Navyandhra Intellectuals’ Forum, condemned Naidu’s outbursts against senior bureaucrats.