This might trigger a fresh row between the two as they have been at loggerheads for some time.
Hyderabad: Differences between Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and his chief secretary L.V. Subramanyam, who was appointed by the Election Commission (EC), have reached a new level after the former declared on Friday that he wants to hold a Cabinet meeting sometime next week. The matter might go to EC for its final word.
This might spark off a fresh row between the CM and the chief secretary as they have been at loggerheads for some time, as the latter might object to the meeting on the ground that the former doesn’t have powers to chair it unless cleared by the EC.
Andhra Pradesh chief secretary has not been permitting any routine reviews by the Chief Minister or ministers with a financial agenda.
Naidu, who is engaged in a fight with the chief secretary for the last few weeks, has announced that he wanted to hold a Cabinet meeting, probably by Monday or Tuesday, to review the Fani cyclone related relief measures, among other things. Naidu hasn’t conducted any Cabinet meetings since the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) came into force.
In the first week of April, the EC replaced Andhra chief secretary Anil Punetha with Subramanyam as the former was found to have dithered in implementing its orders sacking AP Intelligence DG A.B. Venkateswara Rao earlier. The EC summoned Punetha to Delhi and sought an explanation for the delay in removing Rao and later shifted both of them.
Ever since Subramanyam took over as chief secretary, there has been a war of words between the two camps. After Subramanyam shot off letters to the secretaries and IAS officials not to attend meetings of the Chief Minister and ministers, the bureaucrats followed him. A senior official went on long leave.Naidu objected to this, saying that the EC had been following double standards for him and others—when Prime Minister Narendra Modi had conducted as many as four Union Cabinet meetings and even neighbouring Telangan Chief Minister conducting regular review meetings. “When others are allowed to chair official meetings, why not me?” asked Naidu at a media conference in Amaravati on Friday.
A recent interview by Subramanyam to a news channel saying that thought the Chief Minister was not a caretaker in nature, he doesn’t have powers to review administrative meetings as long as MCC was in force, escalated their differences. Peeved over this, Naidu shot off a letter to the chief secretary seeking an explanation on the interview.
An official from the Chief Minister’s office told this newspaper that the Chief Minister might write another letter demanding a proper explanation from the chief secretary. Naidu launched a fresh attack on the chief secretary and also on the EC for cornering him on administrative matters and not allowing him to function as usual when the PM and the CMs of others states were allowed the same. “I am shocked at these double standards of the EC and its appointed chief secretary here. I only want to know where are rules that prohibit me from being a regular Chief Minister?” asked Naidu.
His move to hold a Cabinet meeting early next week is intended to force the EC to come out with a written explanation on the matter. “I have been saying that I am a CM with full powers till my term ends. If they (EC and chief secretary) want me not to chair a Cabinet meet, let them give it in writing,” he said.