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Telangana: Former collector quits post, joins ruling TRS
A 2003-batch officer, Reddy told reporters that he opted for voluntary retirement from service and was relieved from duties after chief secretary Somesh Kumar accepted his resignation with immediate effect.
A senior IAS officer and collector of Siddipet district in Telangana resigned from service on Monday to join the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) party.
P Venkat Rami Reddy made headlines earlier this year in June when he touched the feet of chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) at the inauguration of the new collector’s complex in Siddipet.
A 2003-batch officer, Reddy told reporters that he opted for voluntary retirement from service and was relieved from duties after chief secretary Somesh Kumar accepted his resignation with immediate effect.
Reddy later told reporters that he would be joining the TRS after getting the green signal from the chief minister. He is being tipped for the state legislative council membership under local bodies’ quota, the nomination process for which would begin on Tuesday and the elections would be held on December 10.
Reddy joined the government service as a Group-I officer in 1996 during the combined Andhra Pradesh regime and was conferred with an IAS cadre in 2003. “I had been in the government service for more than 25 years and worked in various capacities. Now, I am joining the TRS, and it is for the party to take a call on how to utilise my services,” he said.
On Monday, Reddy also went to Pragati Bhavan, the camp office of the chief minister in Hyderabad and met KCR. “I am ready to accept whatever responsibility I will be entrusted with,” he said.
Reddy said, “KCR was developing Telangana into a No. 1 state in the country, which the people would remember for the next 100 years.”
“Entire nation is looking up to KCR’s leadership. I have taken a decision to follow his path and will work as per his directions,” he said.
Despite being a bureaucrat, Reddy has never concealed his admiration for the TRS. He triggered a controversy by touching KCR’s feet on June 21 this year, after which the opposition parties demanded that he be sacked from service. Reddy defended his gesture saying there was nothing wrong in touching the feet of the chief minister, who is the head of the state.
Recently, Reddy stoked yet another controversy by warning the seed dealers against selling paddy seeds to farmers during the Rabi season, since the government was discouraging paddy cultivation.
A video of the IAS officer threatening the seed dealers that he would send them to jail if they sold even a single kilogram of paddy seeds went viral on social media. “I don’t care even if you get permission from the high court or Supreme Court. As long as I am the collector of the district, there is no question of selling paddy seeds,” he asserted. HT has verified the veracity of the video and found it to be legit.
He, however, retracted his statement after getting a dressing down from the Telangana high court on November 2.
Telangana PCC leader and former minister Mohammad Ali Shabbir said it was no surprise that Reddy had quit the IAS officer post to join the TRS, as the Congress had been saying right from the beginning that he was working as a TRS agent.
He reminded that the Congress had already lodged a complaint with President Ram Nath Kovind seeking action against Reddy for touching the feet of the chief minister in public. “KCR is rewarding Reddy with MLC seat for the latter’s slavery. This will prompt many more IAS and IPS officers to shun political neutrality and act as TRS functionaries,” he said.
