A minister recently found himself faced with a recalcitrant collector while trying to secure sand supplies for Indiramma houses in his constituency. As his segment is spread across two districts, he told one district’s collector to source sand from the other. Simple enough, right? Not quite. Four or five days later, the minister checked on the matter.
The first collector said there had been no response from his counterpart. The minister rang up the other collector directly, who claimed instructions had already been passed to the RDO. But when asked, the RDO flatly denied ever getting such an order. The minister then phoned the headquarters RDO. Same reply again, no orders received.
By now, his patience had run out. The minister called the collector again and blasted the officer for giving false information. The collector tried to pass the buck, saying the tahsildar had been informed. But the tahsildar was standing right there in front of the minister and bluntly said no such orders had ever come.
That was the final straw.
Buzz in the Secretariat is that the minister has already complained to the chief secretary and the CMO principal secretary, pushing for the collector’s transfer in the next reshuffle.
Between a probe and a hard place
Ever since CM A Revanth Reddy and the ruling Congress announced a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in the Kaleshwaram project, BJP circles are said to be on edge. The buzz is that Congress may have cleverly boxed them into a political trap.
The worry is clear. if the CBI does not go full throttle, the BJP’s chances in the state could take a hit as the Congress will once again accuse the saffron party of striking a backroom deal with the BRS, something that hurt it back in 2023. After all, it has not gone unnoticed that the BJP manifesto itself promised a CBI probe into Kaleshwaram.