The report that appeared in these columns about the likely appointment of senior IAS officer Srivatsa Krishna, who is presently on deputation as a joint secretary in the Centre, as next executive officer of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams has created tremors in the YSR Congress party circles.
Srivatsa Krishna, 1994-batch IAS officer from Karnataka, is said to have been recommended to YSRC president and chief minster Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, by a top bureaucrat in the chief minister’s office who is calling shots in the government at present. And Jagan is learnt to have given his nod to Srivatsa Krishna’s appointment.
But senior YSRC leaders are not taking this appointment kindly, as Srivatsa Krishna is a controversial officer.
No doubt, he is an extremely talented officer with a post-graduate degree in business administration from Harvard Business School and with a number of awards and felicitations behind him, but he has his own controversies and political leanings.
According to party sources, Srivatsa Krishna was particularly a blue-eyed boy of Telugu Desam Party leader and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
He had been part of Naidu’s core team in developing Hyderabad as a hub of Information Technology and introducing e-governance in the administration.
For that, Srivatsa had never hidden his admiration for Naidu. He used to describe the TDP chief as the most progressive government politician in India, a visionary, political genius and a seminal point not just in Indian politics, but more so in Indian economics.
He even called Naidu as the future prime minister for the country and attributed his award as Global Leader for Tomorrow given by World Economic Forum at Davos to the pioneering work being done by Naidu in Andhra Pradesh.
“Naidu and Andhra Pradesh are perhaps among India's most valuable brands today," he said then.
What is more interesting is that within hours of meeting Jagan and getting clearance for his deputation to AP recently, Srivatsa had met Chandrababu Naidu.
He even tweeted a photo of him with Naidu saying: “With my ex-boss @ncbn. Great pleasure and privilege to meet him. God bless you sir.”
Naturally, this has angered the YSRC leaders.
“How can a man who openly discloses his allegiance to the TDP chief be allowed to be part of the Jagan government? Where is the guarantee that he does not leak official information to Naidu?” a senior YSRC leader asked.
