Hyderabad: Three weeks after Andhra Pradesh Assembly and Lok Sabha polls, a proxy war has begun between Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and government Chief Secretary L.V. Subramanyam continues. It continues dividing the IAS and IPS lobbies in the state into two camps or pushing them into a state of uncertainty on administrative activities.
The top bureaucracy in Andhra Pradesh is in a piquant situation as both the Chief Minister and the chief secretary are trying to take control of the routine administration at a time when the counting of postal ballots and upkeep of EVMs assumes significance till the counting of votes on 23 May. The safe keeping of EVMs in strong rooms, too, has become a bone of contention between TDP ministers and the chief secretary.
At the same time, there is a controversy over the legal validity of an incumbent elected government—led by Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu—particularly during a period between the polling day and the counting of vote day. While Naidu and his ministers are arguing that his government was fully empowered to take decisions on every matter, the chief secretary is objecting to several review meetings held by the Chief Minister.
Subramanyam, a 1983 batch IAS officer, appointed as the chief secretary by the Election Commission (EC0 before the polling, is now virtually presiding over every sphere of governance in the state, thus triggering a sort of conflict with CM Naidu who, too, wants to continue his routine administrative activity by reviewing departments and issuing orders to officials.
The clash of the CM and the chief secretary has reached a stage that Andhra Pradesh Finance Secretary Muddala Ravichandra had to go on leave this week, unable to bear the pressure from both the sides. Ravichandra is learnt to have cleared payments of some bills pertaining to contractors as per the directions of the CM’s office, but the same was objected to by the chief secretary who found fault with the payments.
Chief secretary Subramanyam has cancelled some of the review meetings called for by the Chief Minister, on the ground that a “caretaker CM” cannot function in a regular manner. However, the Chief Minister’s secretaries told the senior IAS and IPS officials to ignore the chief secretary’s orders and attend the meetings. Unable to decide between them, the officials are keeping away from the meetings.
Subramanyam’s recent visit to the office of CEO Gopalakrishna Dwivedi in Amaravati sparked off a row as several TDP ministers and leaders termed it as an attempt to influence the counting of voting process.
Early this week, some bureaucrats close to Subramanyam called for a meeting of AP IAS officers association to discuss the situation arising out of the confrontation between the Chief Minister and the chief secretary. The meeting apparently was intended to condemn the open attack launched by TDP ministers and leaders on Subramanyam.
However, thanks to pressure mounted by the officials close to the CM and the CM office, the meeting couldn’t be held for want of quorum; only 14 officers out of the total 150 turned up. A group of retired IAS and IPS officers, however, expressed their solidarity with Subramnyam and criticised TDP leaders for “degrading the institution of chief secretary.”
TDP senior MLC B. Rajendra Parasad refuted the charge and said that the chief secretary was carrying out the agenda of the Opposition YSR Congress and was disregarding the instructions of the elected government.