Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu had contended that the Election Commission had no powers over officials not directly linked to election duties.
Hyderabad: The Election Commission (EC) has removed Andhra Pradesh Director General of Police (DGP) and Intelligence wing chief A.B. Venkateswara Rao from his post along with two senior IPS officers—Srikakulam SP, Venkata Ratnam and Kadapa SP, Rahul Dev Sharm—till the election code ends by May fourth week.
Rao was given marching orders on Friday evening, but only after the TDP government in AP lost a legal battle in the AP High Court earlier in the day. The government went to court challenging the EC’s orders removing Venkateswara Rao from regular duties and attaching him to the police headquarters on the ground that the poll panel had no rights over an intelligence chief.
The EC, in its orders on March 26, Tuesday ordered removal of three senior IPS officers, including Rao, based on a petition filed by a YSR Congress delegation led by Rajya Sabha MP K. Vijaya Sai Reddy on 11 March. Sai Reddy, in his memorandum to the EC, has sought removal of not only Rao, but also AP DGP R.P. Thakur and several other police officials as they were hand-in-glove with the ruling TDP.
AP Chief Secretary (CS) Anil Punetha quickly complied with the EC orders the same day and issued an order (GO) transferring the three officials to the headquarters, but Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, after a review meeting with his Cabinet colleagues and legal experts, instructed for appointing Rao again to the same Intelligence wing head post and the CS re-issued another GO to that extent.
Naidu’s contention was that as Intelligence wing of police is not directly linked to election duties and the EC has no powers over officials who are not directly linked to poll duties, hence the transfer of Intelligence wing head doesn’t come under the purview of the poll panel. “The EC has no jurisdiction over the officials who are not directly involved with the polls,” Naidu told the media on Wednesday.
This transfer of Intelligence DG became a political controversy and CM Naidu termed it as “a conspiracy hatched by PM Narendra Modi, Opposition leader Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and Telangana CM K. Chandrasekhar Rao to pose a threat to his life” as Rao as Intelligence head looks after his security.
“I survived an attack on my life by Maoists in 2003 and even now, I have a high threat perception to my life. As Intelligence DG looks after my security, any move to shift him in the middle of electioneering should be treated as a breach of security to the life of a CM,” said Naidu, talking to the media after the EC orders on Tuesday. Naidu also pointed to the recent spurt in Maoist violence in Andhra- Orissa borders.
Though Naidu couldn’t establish the link between the Prime Minister and Telangana CM and transfer of AP Intelligence chief, he tried to read some meaning behind the EC promptly obliging the demand of YSR Congress for removal of certain top IPS officers from election duties. YSR Congress was after Intelligence chief Venkateswara Rao for long.
Naidu directed his officials to move the High Court seeking a stay on the EC orders and the court headed by Acting Chief Justice C. Praveen Kumar and Justice M. Satyanarayana Murthy on Wednesday. The EC’s counsels and those of YSR Congress, too, appeared before the High Court on Thursday. The High Court which delivered its verdict Friday refused to stay the EC orders; hence shifted the Intelligence DG.
The High Court in its orders made it clear that it cannot interfere with the EC’s orders in the middle of the poll process and maintained that it would not be proper to interpret the shifting of one single official as posing a threat to the life of a CM. The AP government finally issued orders attaching Rao to the police headquarters even while examining the option of moving the Supreme Court on the issue next week.
YSR Congress leaders Vijay Sai Reddy and others claimed the High Court orders as a “moral victory” as it exposed the misuse of power by the TDP government. YSR Congress has alleged that Venkateswara Rao got promoted from Additional DG to the DG rank only a day before the model code of conduct came into force on 10 March evening.
The Opposition party has blamed Rao for a range of issues—right from tapping of telephones of Opposition leaders to defection of 22 of its MLAs to the ruling TDP in the last four years. Kadapa SP Rahul Dev Sharma is linked to the investigation of murder of former MP Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy early this month. While YSR Congress chief Jagan alleged that Sharma, along with several others in the police department, was trying to shield the real culprits in the murder, TDP leaders had alleged that Sharma’s shifting would affect the ongoing probe. Srikakulam SP Venkata Ratnam’s transfer was linked to his involvement in safe passage of an alleged transport of huge currency bundles in the vehicles belonging to AP Municipal Administration Minister P. Narayana who owns the Narayana Group of educational institutions, in the limits of Srikakulam district in the first week of March.