The present Telangana government “does not believe in witch-hunting” and the appointment of officers will be purely on the basis of merit and with no other consideration to send across a strong signal that Chief Minister A.Revanth Reddy’s focus is solely on governance.
After receiving positive response over the appointment of his team, including officials in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), Mr.Reddy wishes to continue this trend. Not a single officer appointed so far was picked based on criteria other than merit. None of them even asked for the posts or made any effort to reach out to him through some influence, which is generally the case, sources say.
The appointment of Mr. Seshadri as Secretary to the Chief Minister and Shivdhar Reddy as head of Intelligence — both known for their integrity and efficiency — was the first positive sign sent to other officers that there won’t be any scope for using clout.
No witch-hunting
Mr.Reddy seems to be focussing on governance alone and there won’t be any witch-hunting of either politicians or officials, who were alleged to have walked the extra mile to favour the previous government in violation of norms.
There is a lot of talk about targeting former Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao but Mr.Reddy’s thinking is that the whole effort before the elections was to defeat the former, and that target has been achieved. The focus is now on administration and setting the systems right that were ‘damaged’ by the previous government.
New camp office
The Chief Minister is keen on creating a new facility in a vacant space of about 4,000 to 5,000 sq.ft. available at the Dr. MCRHRD Institute of Telangana, along with good ambience including lawns for his office. A new entrance would be created without disturbing the main institute. Meetings with MLAs or Ministers are also planned to be held there.
Meanwhile, the camp office in the present Praja Bhavan is also under consideration for CM’s camp office for the time being though the residential wing of the entire campus has been allotted to Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka for his residence.
The residence in the old camp office that was used by former chief minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh, late Y.S. Rajashekhar Reddy, will be turned into a guest house for dignitaries. All these years it was being used by K.T. Rama Rao of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi as his camp office.
