HYDERABAD: With the DoPT directing Somesh Kumar to join the AP government by January 12, the BJP on Tuesday demanded the immediate removal of the IAS officer as chief secretary. In a media statement, BJP State president Bandi Sanjay said that the Telangana government has resorted to unethical and unconstitutional methods by deputing IAS and IPS officers of AP cadre in Telangana, which he said was in violation of the DOPT orders.
“The chief minister, who has no respect for the law or the Constitution or Central rules, has been using officers of pliable conscience as pawns to expand his fiefdom of corruption. By giving a go-bye to many other Telangana cadre officers who are more deserving, and by appointing officers like Somesh Kumar as the chief secretary, the chief minister has benefited politically. The chief minister had several Gos issued including GO 317 through Somesh Kumar,” Sanjay wrote.
He accused the chief minister of appointing officers in his attendance to key departments like Irrigation, HMDA, Revenue and Home. Sanjay said the chief minister used Somesh Kumar to perpetrate and perpetuate corruption on a large scale.
“Why is it that rules that apply to officers of the chief minister’s choice do not hold good for government employees and teachers?” he asked. He demanded that Somesh Kumar be removed forthwith and an officer from Telangana be posted in his place.
BJP leader and former minister Marri Shashidhar Reddy said that the court’s order could be summed up simply as a good riddance and hoped that democracy could be the biggest gainer in the process.