Even though some key officers have already been transferred on the charges that they are acting as proxies of the ruling YSRCP, the Chief Secretary KS Jawahar Reddy continuing his efforts to project his `loyalty’ to Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy by daily forwarding several files to the Election Commission of India (ECI) seeking its node for money transfer under various government schemes.
Knowing fully that they were all long pending issues and there is no urgency to bring now during elections, the opposition is alleging that he has been intentionally sending proposals to the ECI so that to facilitate the ruling party YCP go to the people blaming the opposition creating hurdles when it wants to help them.
Without bothering with the election code, CM Jagan pressed the button on March 6 for payment of investment subsidy to the drought affected farmers to the extent of Rs 847 crore. But actually, the farmers got losses due to drought conditions some seven months ago and the government kept silent all these months without coming to the rescue of the farmers.
When the Chief Secretary Jawahar Reddy sent a file to the ECI seeking its approval for payment of this subsidy amount, it wondered why this issue surfaced now and asked what is the hurry to pay during election time. It politely suggested that it may be paid after the period of election code.
Likewise, CM Jagan also pressed another button on March 1 for payment of fee reimbursement to students to the extent of Rs 610 crore. This amount was also expected to be paid many months ago, but suddenly now the government realised its commitment during elections.
This entire episode exposed how the government is playing havoc to generate `sympathy’ from the people blaming that opposition and ECI coming in the way of helping them. But, CM Jagan pressed the button without depositing money into beneficiaries bank accounts.
Incidentally, all these proposals were cleared at a screening committee meeting, chaired by chief secretary Jawahar Reddy himself, after the ECI announing the election schedule.