Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary IYR Krishna Rao tweeted on the controversy surrounding the appointment of LV Subramanyam as the new boss of state bureaucracy: “ncbn does not seem to have reconciled to appointment of CS by the #ECI without consulting him. A leader who has the stature to fight #narendramodi is fighting an employee. If one has to see the track records might as well see of all officers politicians underlying connections”.
#ncbn does not seem to have reconciled to appointment of CS by the #ECI without consulting him. A leader who has the stature to fight #narendramodi is fighting an employee. If one has to see the track records might as well see of all officers politicians underlying connections. pic.twitter.com/vaYg2uSVec
— IYRKRao , Retd IAS (@IYRKRao) May 2, 2019
Strikingly, Krishna Rao himself was one of the beneficiaries of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s largesse which was up for grabs for many bureaucrats. Rao was rewarded with a post-retirement appointment as Chairman of the AP Brahmin Corporation with a cabinet rank status for the ‘goodwill’ he enjoyed with Naidu during his stint as a senior IAS officer.
Of course, it is a different matter that the senior bureaucrat was sacked from the chairman post following suspicions over his alleged links with opposition leader YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. Later, the ex-bureaucrat joined the rival BJP camp to avenge his unceremonious exit.
The elevation of Rao, an IAS officer of 1979 batch, was only the tip of the iceberg indicating Naidu’s special love for bureaucrats that earned him the sobriquet ‘Babus’ Babu’. A contingent of IAS and IPS officers on superannuation were either rehabilitated with postings in government bodies or ushered into the legislative houses during Naidu’s tenures as CM. The lucky lot included former CBI Director K Vijayarama Rao, who was made a minister in Naidu’s cabinet in the past (1999-2004).
Naidu was obliged to keep the bureaucracy in good humour in order to shift the Hyderabad-based reluctant government personnel to a desert-like place – the new capital Amaravati. Flexi-work environment with a five-day week came with the appeasement. It enabled heads of bureaucracy to clear files online from Hyderabad without having to slog at Amaravati at the expense of metro-centric social life. Besides, all IAS, IPS and IFS officers received spacious house sites with 500 sq yards each in the prime location of the capital region.
A source of envy
The way Naidu built rapport with officials through mass contact programmes like Janmabhoomi, daily teleconferences and frequent reviews earned the envy of his own party men. His attire – off-white shirt and matching trousers with shoes – itself brought him close to the bureaucracy. This is in sharp contrast to his mentor and yesteryear star of the Telugu film industry, NT Rama Rao, and his bitter rival the late YS Rajasekhar Reddy of the Congress. In their dhotis, NTR and YSR liked to be identified as men of the masses.
Naidu was also unlike NTR and YSR in his style of functioning, relying more on officials. YSR had preferred loyalty within his intra-party group over the bureaucracy in running his administration; NTR struck an emotional bond with his diehard fans beyond the official hierarchy and protocol associated with the Chief Minister’s post.
“Whenever I met NTR, it was hassle-free and warm. But whenever I met Naidu, I felt as if I was a postman delivering mails. Appointments with Naidu would be given several hours after loitering around his chambers,” recounts a senior MLA who has been in the party right from its inception.
Babus in the crossfire?
At the fag-end of his current tenure, the CM’s relations with the official machinery has turned bitter as the bureaucrats have been caught unwittingly in the crossfire between Naidu and the ‘Modi-backed’ Election Commission.
Naidu, known as a taskmaster in running the administration with deadlines keeping men in suits on their toes, had to suspend reviews as officials ignored his diktat. The CM failed to hold cabinet meetings for the same reason.
Naidu’s caustic remarks against LV’s appointment labelling him as a co-accused with Jagan Reddy in criminal cases has only widened the gulf between the bureaucracy and the political executives in the state – a classic case of U-turn in Naidu’s administration.
Gali Nagaraja is a freelance journalist who writes on the two Telugu states.