Gautam Sawang new Andhra DGP as Jagan shuffles IAS and IPS officers

Former Vijayawada Police Commissioner Gautam Sawang, who had been serving as Director General (Vigilance and Enforcement), was appointed as the state's Director General of Police (DGP), hours after Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy took oath. Many officials hired by Jagan's predecessor, Chandrababu Naidu, were also shunted out from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO).

R P Thakur,  who was serving as the DGP, was given the post of Commissioner of Printing, Stationary and Store Purchase. Chief Secretary L V Subrahmanyam also issued orders to ACB Director General A B Venkateswara Rao to be moved to the General Administration Department (GAD) for further posting, while Kumar Vishwajeet was given full additional charge of the post.

In the run-up to the election, amidst a bitter spat between the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Election Commission, the poll panel appointed Kumar Vishwajeet as the Additional Director General (ADG) of Intelligence, Andhra Pradesh, to replace outgoing senior officer A B Venkateswara Rao The state government had also challenged the transfer of police officials but the Andhra Pradesh High Court refused to intervene in the EC order and ruled that the Intelligence chief must be transferred.

Following this, Rao, who was considered close to Naidu, was given the post of ACB DG.

It was not only IPS officers who were shifted. Subrahmanyam also issued orders transferring Satish Chandra, Special Chief Secretary to former Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, Principal Secretary G Sai Prasad, and Secretaries M Girija Shankar and A V Rajamouli, from the CMO.

While Special Grade Deputy Collector (retired) P. Krishna Mohan Reddy was appointed as the Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to the Chief Minister, 2006-batch IAS officer K Dhanunjaya Reddy, who was heading the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation, was appointed as Additional Secretary with immediate effect.

Meanwhile, senior bureaucrat Anil Chandra Punetha, who was the Chief Secretary under Naidu before being shifted by the EC, was relieved of his duties as Chairman of the Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation Limited as of May 31, on attaining the age of superannuation. 

Principal Secretary Shamsher Singh Rawat who was handling the Social Welfare Department was posted as the Principal Finance Secretary, while IAS officer Solomon Raj was appointed as a Secretary to the Chief Minister.

Earlier this week, it was reported that Jagan was likely to pick Stephen Ravindra, a 1999-batch IPS officer presently working in Telangana, to be the state's Intelligence Chief. Stephen also served as the Chief Security Officer (CSO) for Jagan's father and former AP CM YS Rajasekhar Reddy. While Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao agreed to the proposal, the Centre will now need to clear the inter-state deputation.