At a time when Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu has been going ga ga over forging an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party and claiming to have the support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah, YSR Congress party president and chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has once again proved that he commands tremendous clout at the Centre.
On Saturday, the Centre has conceded a request of Jagan seeking extension of deputation of his favourite officer and Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) executive officer A V Dharma Reddy till June 30.
In a communication to the state government, deputy secretary to the Union defence ministry Debasweta Banik said the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the proposal of the Department of Defence for extension of the term of deputation of Dharma Reddy as TTD executive officer for a period of six more weeks.
Dharma Reddy, an Indian Defence Estates Officer (IDES) of 1991 batch, is supposed to complete his deputation by March 14.
But following a letter from the chief minister, the Central government approved the extension of his deputation up to June 30, which is also his date of his retirement on attaining the age of superannuation.
Within a couple of days of the model code of conduct for the general elections coming into force, the Jagan Mohan Reddy government wrote to Union defence minister Rajnath Singh seeking extension of services of Dharma Reddy as the TTD executive officer.
Jagan pointed out that there will be heavy rush of pilgrims to Tirumala during the summer days and if there is no full-time EO for the TTD, it would cause a lot of problems. So, it would be better if Dharma Reddy is continued as EO till June 30, he requested.
Dharma Reddy, who is an Indian Defence Estates Services (IDES) officer, has been on deputation in the state government which appointed him as the joint executive officer of TTD soon after Jagan assumed charge as the chief minister.
Dharma Reddy, in fact, has already exceeded the limit of a Central government official being on deputation to the state.
He worked in the TTD for more than seven years in various capacities before being made the executive officer last year.
He has been the most loyal official for YSR family, right from the days of Jagan’s father Y S Rajasekhar Reddy.
Secondly, more than anything else, Dharma Reddy has been using his clout at the Centre to lobby for Jagan on various issues in New Delhi in the capacity of the TTD chairman.
He can keep even top judges of the Supreme Court in good humour using his post, sources said.
