Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu is learnt to have taken seriously the statements made by certain officials that are causing a lot of embarrassment to his government.
He reportedly told chief secretary Neerabh Kumar Prasad to issue a strict warning to all the IAS and IPS officers not to make any statements having political overtones, while speaking to the media.
“On any issue, the officials can confine themselves to policy and administrative issues while speaking to media. If there is any political angle to the issues, they will be handled by the politicians but not the officials,” Naidu reportedly told the chief secretary.
Apparently, several ministers, particularly Naidu’s son and IT minister Nara Lokesh, brought to the notice of the chief minister before the commencement of the cabinet meeting on Thursday that some police officials and IAS officers were making statements before the media that are causing embarrassment to the ruling party.
For example, the higher officials in Visakhapatnam were trying to cover up the irregularities in the sand prices by making contradictory statements in the media, though the local TDP leaders explained the ground realities on the prices.
Similarly, in Anantapur, while the local YSRCP leaders were behind the burning of temple chariot, the police officials issued a statement saying there was no involvement of any political party.
“During the recent floods in Vijayawada, too, some officials made political statements that gave a weapon to the opposition party,” Lokesh brought to the notice of Naidu.
The chief minister warned that disciplinary action would be taken against such officials who continue to issue political statements.
