Aaku vs mullu: the attraction and the invariable loser

Tainted ministers and ministers need to only know how to coordinate their responses whenever scams surface. Those who fail in this dicey task, particularly officials, cannot help facing the music. When scams surface; officials are in the dock first, but ministers manage to wriggle out of the situation at least initially. Going by recent scams, regardless of the party in power, action has been initiated only against officials. No action has been initiated against the minister(s) concerned. Sleuths of the Anti Corruption Bureau in Telangana recently arrested four officials in the ‘sheep distribution scam’ case relating to the previous BRS government. Official circles believe that only babus have been made scapegoats in the case. This being so, the Telangana High Court recently asked the state government why no penal action had been taken against officials under the erstwhile TDP government in combined Andhra Pradesh over allotting 850 acres of prime land in Hyderabad to IMG Bharat Academies two decades ago. Some bureaucrats feel that only smart officials and wily politicians who are in power mix like water and milk to insulate themselves from scams. “Aaku yegiri mullu medha padda, mullu vachi aaku medha padda chirigedhi aakeee,” goes a Telugu proverb. Babus in particular realize the truth of this quite late.