Hyderabad: Reacting to the reports of Siddipet Collector P. Venkatrama Reddy resigning from the post to join the TRS party, former Minister & ex-Leader of Opposition in Telangana Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir said that the Congress party’s allegations were proved right as this man has been working as the TRS agent since the beginning.
Shabbir Ali said that the Congress party lodged a complaint with President of India Ramnath Kovind seeking action against District Collectors of Kamareddy and Siddipet, A. Sharat and P Venkatrama Reddy respective, after they touched the feet of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao in full public view during his visit to the inauguration of collector’s complexes on June 20. “The President has reacted to my complaint and referred the matter to the Union Ministry of Personnel and also sought a report from Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar. But the Centre and the Chief Secretary delayed action against Venkatrama Reddy and Sharat despite the President of India’s intervention. However, both were destined to face action for violation of the All India Services (Conduct) Rules, 1968,” he claimed.
“The IAS officers also serve as District Magistrates. They had sent a wrong message and set a wrong precedent by bowing down before the Chief Minister, who is a political functionary. Section 3 (ii) of the All India Services (Conduct) Rules, 1968 clearly says that ‘Every member of the Service shall maintain Political Neutrality.’ Therefore, Siddipet and Kamareddy Collectors were guilty of violating the AIS Rules,” he said.
Shabbir Ali slammed CM KCR for turning many AIS officers into his ‘slaves’. “Venkatrama Reddy is likely to be nominated as MLC as a reward for KCR’s slavery. This would again prompt many more IAS and IPS officers to shun political neutrality and act as TRS functionaries,” he feared. He also alleged that some IAS and IPS officers, who are sycophants of CM KCR, were involved in corruption, land grabbing and other illegal activities.
He urged the President of India to take action on his complaint against both the District Collectors irrespective of whether or not Venkatarama Reddy joins TRS to become MLC in order to seek immunity. “They have set a wrong precedent of disrespecting the Constitution by touching the feet of a political functionary and both of them must face unprecedented action for violating the AIS Rules,” he said.
