The conflict between the Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu of Andhra Pradesh and Chief Secretary of the state L V Subrahmanyam seems to be brewing again.
Following of which, the chief electoral officer (CEO) Gopal Kumar Krishna Dwivedi skipped a review meeting held by Naidu last week, causing the administrative conflict.
Convened by the chief secretary, Naidu has called a cabinet meeting on May 14 and has said that the Subrahmanyam’s presence is essential, said an AP government secretariat official requesting anonymity. The interim chief secretary is likely to attend it, as only the person holding the post can convene it, he further adds.
Over time, the conflict between Naidu and Subrahmanyam has been nervy from the beginning, after AP’s chief secretary Subrahmanyam was appointed later replacing IAS officer Anil Chandra Punetha on the order of the AP CEO.
The issue stepped forward after the main party YSR Party lodged a complaint in the Election Commission accusing that the AP director general of the police R P Thakur and additional director general of the intelligence and A B Venkateshwar Rao, were supporting the Telugu Desam Party.
In the run up the 11 April assembly and Lok Sabha polls in Andhra Pradesh, the Election Commission of India has ordered the transfer of Srikakulam and Kadapa, the district superintendents of police.
Punetha issued the transfer orders of the Venkateshwar Rao along with two superintendents in March, as chief secretary.
However, it wasn’t successful, the very next day; he withdrew his order of transfer for Rao for which he was pulled up by the Election Commission and subsequently transferred and replaced by Subrahmanyam.
