Senior IRS officer Jasti Krishna Kishore was suspended by the AP government for the irregularities committed during his period as CEO of the AP Economic Development Board (APEDB).
Jasti, an officer in the Income Tax Department, came to the AP government on deputation during Chandrababu Naidu’s regime between 2014 and 2019.
He was one of the many officers from the most favoured Kamma caste, who worked in the close circle of Chandrababu Naidu.
He was appointed CEO of the APEDB in September 2015 as it played key role in projecting Naidu’s investment tours to foreign countries and his investment meets in Visakhapatnam and other areas.
Besides promoting Naidu’s massive investment mobilisation claims, Jasti had favoured 15 out of 20 advisors from his own Kamma community. These consultants were paid heavily to promote Chandrababu Naidu’s investment plans and foreign tours.
Funds misappropriation by the APEDB is one of the reasons for the government to place him under suspension and order enquiry.
However, Jasti and his caste-owned media is projecting the suspension as political vendetta as he was one of the Income Tax officers who audited the properties of the Jagathi Group headed by YS family in 2009-10.
Jasti, his advocates and his media project Jagathi Group’s auditing process as the reason for the suspension, while the actual reason is misappropriation of funds in the APEDB.
Even if it is a political vendetta for IT audit on Jagathi Group, it is everybody’s knowledge that those cases itself were part of the political vendetta by the Congress against Jagan after Y S Rajasekhar Reddy’s death.
When the cases are a big political witch-hunt, his work from the IT too is part of it and could be seen as political vendetta.
However, the fact remains what Jasti had done in the APEDB once the enquiry is completed and charges are framed.
The YSR Congress had been alleging that there are several officers belonging to Kamma caste favouring the TDP and working in IT, ED and CBI targeting the YS family as part of the conspiracy of the Congress and strongly supported by the TDP.
