CM orders probe against AP’s ex-I & PR commissioner TVK Reddy

Former Information and Public Relations Commissioner Tumma Vijay Kumar Reddy is under scanner by the TDP-led NDA government. Sources indicate that Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu on Monday directed Chief Secretary Neerabh Kumar Prasad to issue orders for a thorough investigation by the Vigilance and Enforcement Department into the alleged acts of omission and commission committed by Vijay Kumar Reddy during his tenure as I&PR Commissioner under the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government.
The 1990-batch Indian Information Service officer was deputed to Andhra Pradesh on 11 June 2019, shortly after YS Jagan Mohan Reddy came to power in the State. He has been accused of engaging in quid pro quo deals with various agencies and of granting undue favours to the Sakshi media group.
The Chief Minister reportedly obtained a preliminary report indicating that during YS Jagan’s regime, the I&PR department awarded advertisements worth more than Rs 400 crore to Sakshi media house, owned by Jagan Mohan Reddy.
In addition to Sakshi, Reddy faces allegations of large-scale corruption in the release of advertisements to various print, electronic, digital, and social media outlets over the past five years.
Reddy managed to secure his repatriation to the Union Information and Broadcasting Department, where he was appointed as Director General (Media and Communication) in the Press Information Bureau, Kolkata, with immediate effect and until further orders. Initially, the General Administration Department of the Andhra Pradesh government refused to relieve him, pending an inquiry into the acts of omission and commission during his tenure over the last five years. However, he reportedly used his connections in Delhi to facilitate the repatriation.