New Delhi: Andhra Pradesh’s caste politics could be behind Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy government’s suspension order of senior Andhra Pradesh IPS officer A.B. Venkateswara Rao, two senior IPS officers familiar with the developments told ThePrint.
Rao, a 1989-batch IPS officer who is known to be the ‘Man Friday’ of former chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, was suspended Saturday for “serious misconduct” and “direct threat to national security”.
The suspended officer belongs to the Kamma community, whose clout has reportedly been eclipsed in the state government ever since Reddy came to power last year. His government has accused Naidu of patronising the Kamma community, which regards the ex-CM as its icon, and resorting to caste prejudice and cronyism.
According to one of the senior IPS officers, Rao is an “extremely opinionated person”, who doesn’t keep his opinions to himself.
“He is driven by a very strong pro-Kamma feeling. So during Chandrababu Naidu’s time, when officers of the Reddy caste were being driven out, officers like Rao were actively promoted,” said the officer who didn’t wish to be named.
“As officers, we know that we cannot cross certain limits in terms of exhibiting too much loyalty to one government… He did that during Naidu’s time, so what we are seeing now is a result of that,” the officer added.
In December, the Reddy government suspended 1990-batch IRS officer J. Krishna Kishore, who belongs to the Kamma community, pending criminal proceedings against him by the Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Crime Investigation Department (CID). Former CM Naidu had then accused Reddy’s government of intimidating civil servants.
Rao was reportedly on the “hit-list” of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Speaking to ThePrint, Andhra Pradesh government’s spokesperson Jaswanth Reddy elaborated on the misconduct allegations against Rao. However, he didn’t comment on the alleged caste angle to the suspension order.
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National security threat
The Andhra Pradesh government placed A.B. Venkateswara Rao under suspension for endangering national security by “willfully disclosing intelligence protocols and procedures of the police to foreign defence manufacturing firm”.
Rao has been accused of collusion with an Israeli defence equipment manufacturer, RT Inflatables Private Limited, with the intention to “illegally award critical intelligence and surveillance contract to his son Chetan Sai Krishna”.
According to the order, Krishna, chief executive of Akasam Advanced System Pvt Ltd, bid for the contract on behalf of RT Inflatables.
“This proves a direct co-relation between the accused officer and a Foreign Defence Manufacturing Firm thus establishing a direct breach of ethical code of conduct and Rule (3)(a) of All India Service (Conduct) Rules, 1968,” said the Saturday order — which has been accessed by ThePrint — against the officer.
The order said his actions could “critically hamper security situation as use of sub-standard equipment by police force may put them in a dangerous situation, through access to state secrets and potential monopoly over future procurements of Andhra Pradesh police due to access to insider information”.
Rao has been transferred to Vijayawada. He has also been barred from leaving the city without the government’s permission.
ThePrint reached Rao for a comment, but there was no response until the time of publishing this report.
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Rao is not new to controversy
While his suspension has already led to Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP and Jagan Reddy’s YSR Congress Party exchanging barbs, with the former accusing the current regime of taking political revenge, A.B. Venkateswara Rao’s career in the IPS has been fraught with controversies.
In April last year, during the general and state polls in Andhra Pradesh, the Election Commission (EC) ordered his removal as Intelligence, Director General, upon receiving several complaints from YSRCP, which was then in opposition, for acting in a manner seen to be biased towards the TDP.
EC’s decision led to a full-blown row between the Naidu government and the poll body. The former appointed him as the chief of the state’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) soon after he was removed by the EC.
But having been on the YSRCP “hit-list”, Rao could not retain this position for a long time either. The day Reddy came to power he removed Rao as the ACB chief and ordered him to report to the general administration department.
‘New trend’
While it is common for officers known to be loyal to one regime to be given less prominent postings when the opposition comes to power, the trend of placing these officers under suspension is new to Andhra Pradesh, said the IPS officer quoted above.
“Suspension was common in Tamil Nadu, not Andhra. This is a new, and, may I say, a dangerous trend,” said the officer.
“Now, if the Reddy government goes out of power, their loyalists will also not be spared… The question is to what extent are you going to go in order to punish,” added the officer.
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Jagan goes by caste.All his efforts to strengthen his own caste people either in offering positions, promotions is well known facts.He looks at every issue with caste coloured glasses.His media houses, lumpen elements and vulgar/foul mouthed men and women from his Party cadre are there to dramatise what ever is done or spoken by him.Jagan uses and manipulated other caste leaders to his advantage by offering fringe benefits.A probable in the Bible says,”,what one sows harvest the same.”You can’t expect otherwise.
Sorry to say that the reporter did not check even basic facts. This is what the reporter quoted as being part of the suspension order: The Andhra Pradesh government placed A.B. Venkateswara Rao under suspension for endangering national security by “willfully disclosing intelligence protocols and procedures of the police to foreign defence manufacturing firm”. Rao has been accused of collusion with an Israeli defence equipment manufacturer, RT Inflatables Private Limited, with the intention to “illegally award critical intelligence and surveillance contract to his son Chetan Sai Krishna”. According to the order, Krishna, chief executive of Akasam Advanced System Pvt Ltd, bid for the contract on behalf of RT Inflatables.
But none of this is actually in the suspension order. The reporter could not make out the difference between the actual order and a handout full of wild allegations.
This is the suspension order issued by the AP government to ABV Rao:
O R D E R:
Whereas, Government have carefully examined the report read above. The action of Sri A.B. Venkateswara Rao, IPS (AP-1989), in the process of procurement of security equipment, while he was working as Additional Director General of Police is serious misconduct.
2. Now, therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred under Rule 3 (1) of the All India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1969, the Government of Andhra Pradesh hereby place the said Sri A.B. Venkateswara Rao, IPS (A.P:1989), Director General of Police, under suspension in public interest with immediate effect, pending initiation of disciplinary proceedings.
3. During the period of suspension, the Headquarters of Sri A.B. Venkateswara Rao, IPS (AP:1989), Director General of Police, shall be Vijayawada. He shall not leave the Headquarters without obtaining the permission of the Government.
4. Sri A.B. Venkateswara Rao, IPS (AP:1989) shall during the period of suspension be paid subsistence allowance as is admissible under rule 4 of the All India Services (Discipline & Appeal) Rules, 1969.
(BY ORDER AND IN THE NAME OF GOVERNOR OF ANDHRA PRADESH)
Now, please tell the readers where is the part in that order that you mentioned about’ willfully disclosing intelligence protocols and procedures of the police to foreign defence manufacturing firm’, ‘collusion with an Israeli defence equipment manufacturer’ and “illegally award critical intelligence and surveillance contract to his son Chetan Sai Krishna”?
Clearly, the reporter failed to spot any difference between the actual suspension order and allegations contained therein, and canards leaked by the government with malicious intentions. This is a disservice to objective journalism and to the person accused.
There are several other half-truths and economical information provided in the report, but that would require a separate article.
Jurnos have to stop giving a caste angle for every issue. This guy should be investigated if he had provided any security info to foreign company. The police equipment that was procured was done through his son’s company. Investigation should be done as to what his role is in the whole episode. If he had done wrong, it doesnt matter what his caste is. Even national media is falling for this biased reporting.