Maintaining that all are equal before law, the Congress leaders in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday said that it was wrong to say that the IAS officers were being made “scapegoats” in the ongoing CBI probe into various corruption cases in the State.
“There is nothing wrong in the IAS officers expressing their anguish. But, the guilty will be punished, whether it is a minister or a civil servant. All are equal before law,” State Congress president Botsa Satyanarayana told reporters.
Expressing similar feelings, state Rural Development Minister D Manikya Vara Prasad said, “Those who needed to be caught as part of the investigation are being caught. If ministers are found involved, they will also be caught.”
The Congress leaders were reacting to the remarks of IAS officers who met Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Friday to express their anguish over the way the bureaucrats were being made “scapegoats” in the ongoing CBI probe.
Senior Congress MLA and former minister J C Diwakar Reddy also opined that a minister at best could influence bureaucrats, but how could he put pressure on them.
“They are saying that only small fish are being caught. The big fish will also be caught,” another Congress MLA G Veerasiva Reddy said.
Meanwhile, the main opposition Telugu Desam alleged that the comments made by the bureaucrats confirm that irregularities took place during the Congress rule in the State and that the officers should name the ministers if they had pressurised them.
