Finance Secretary K. Ramakrishna Rao has the unique distinction of preparing eight Budgets. For newbies, he was appointed Finance Secretary on February 29, 2016. He is possibly the only Special Chief Secretary who could present two election-year budgets. As is evident from Budget 2024, Ramakrishna Rao had to walk the tightrope this year, unlike in previous years. He was at the forefront of holding talks in New Delhi when the Centre refused permission for TS to participate in Open Market Borrowings. The corridors of power were discussing how the Finance Secretary couldn’t make any cuts to existing schemes, especially in an election-year budget, but still managed to pull it off. Despite arm twisting by the Centre, including on the Rs 17,000 crore power dues due from Andhra Pradesh, hoping that the Centre will come to the state’s rescue speaks about Ramakrishna Rao’s hold on the bureaucratic circles at the Centre.
PV Sunil’s elevation trumped up
All the talk about senior IPS officer PV Sunil Kumar’s elevation seems to be trumped up. It’s been more than a month since the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government moved senior IPS officer PV Sunil Kumar from the post of Crime Investigation Department chief. The senior IPS officer of the 1993 batch has been asked to report to the General Administration Department. There are no signs of any elevation or movement in the officer’s role. People are now wondering what transpired between the most powerful babu who once headed the AP CID. For newbies, the sudden transfer took many by surprise, considering that Sunil had secured the DG rank by climbing up the ladder quickly. There are whispers in the corridors of power that the action was triggered by a complaint about donations filed by an NGO launched by PV Sunil.
GHMC rockstars idling now
Hyderabad’s once most favourite officers are now idling without posting. Harichandana Dasari and Musharaff Ali Faruqui were both GHMC Zonal Commissioners and had won the hearts of Hyderabadis before getting posted as Collectors. As the district collectors of Narayanpet and Nirmal, Harichandana and Musharaff made their impact. Harichandana succeeded in making Narayanpet open-defecation-free by setting up mobile toilets. Musharaff is known for his idea of Sports Village Centres which was launched in Nirmal and subsequently extended across the state. For newbies, Musharaff was replaced by Varun Reddy, a 2019 batch IAS officer, who now gives orders to seniors in the district. Harichandana has been waiting for a posting for around four months now. Officials are recalling the good old days when they enjoyed KTR’s patronage in the GHMC.
Navin Mittal’s threat to the media
Navin Mittal has been all over the news for his controversial statements about a parallel system functioning in the Intermediate Board. He was moved out a day after making the statement. But the news doesn’t seem to die down, with a war of words going on. It went to the extent that Navin Mittal threatened the media that he would file a defamation suit if the story about the allegations of bribery made by Madhusudhan Reddy, the Intermediate Joint Action Committee Chairperson, was published. A little bird told us that when reporters contacted Navin for his comments on the allegations, the senior bureaucrat not only rubbished the allegations but said he will file a defamation case against media houses. For someone who is accusing Madhusudhan of wrecking his reputation, trying to stop the media from covering the issue raised an eyebrow.
