VIJAYAWADA: Following a letter from State Election Commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar to the Chief Secretary Aditya Nath Das seeking action against him for influencing collectors, SPs, and other officers not to attend video conference with the SEC, principal secretary to the chief minister Praveen Prakash wrote a letter to the Chief Secretary refuting charges levelled against him.
In his four-page letter, Prakash gave a point-by-point rebuttal to the allegations. On the alleged failure to respond to the letter (No 44/SEC-B2/2021, dated January 25,) Prakash said he had responded immediately on January 26 clarifying that principal secretary, General Administration (Political), is not an independent office and the Chief Secretary is the head of the GAD and he has to report to the CS.
He said he had informed the SEC that in future also all communications should be addressed to the Chief Secretary. The decision never ends at the principal secretary (political) level and he is just a supporting officer to the CS like five other principal secretaries in the GAD, he said and questioned in what way it was justified to hold him accountable.
On the charges of influencing collectors, SPs and other officers suggesting them to refrain from attending SEC video conference, Prakash said the decision to maintain status quo between the High Court judgement and the Supreme Court verdict was taken to avoid confusion at the field level. The same was communicated to the officials at district level, he said and questioned in what way he is responsible for it.