Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu speaks a lot about values and systems. But when it comes to his own decisions, he does not seem to care about them. The same Chandrababu Naidu who says that systems were collapsed and procedures were disregarded has now done the same thing. In the past too, retired IAS officers were given advisory and other posts in the government. However, this time, Chandrababu Naidu appointed a retired Chief Secretary without even a single day’s gap, entrusting him again with the same Energy Department he had been handling so far, and designated him as the Chief Minister’s Ex-Officio Special Chief Secretary. With this, Vijayanand will serve for one year as the Special Chief Secretary of the Energy Department and also as the CMD of APTRANSCO. The government stated in a GO issued on Saturday that he will continue in this position for a year.
There have been numerous allegations against Vijayanand related to the Energy Department. Despite that, the fact that Chandrababu reappointed him to the same post immediately after his retirement has led to discussions in official circles about how strong the understanding between the two might be. Criticism is being voiced even from TDP circles that the same power companies which flourished during Y.S. Jagan’s tenure are now thriving under the coalition government as well, and that Vijayanand is the reason behind all of it. Even so, setting all this aside, Chandrababu appears to be prioritizing personal interests over state interests, reappointing Vijayanand to the same department as though the Energy Department cannot function without him. This has now become a hot topic in the state.
There is also discussion that he has been appointed as the Chief Minister’s Ex-Officio Special Chief Secretary so that he does not have to report to anyone in matters related to the Energy Department. As expected earlier, Muddada Ravichandra, who was serving as Principal Secretary in the CMO, has been appointed as the full-time TTD EO. Sai Prasad, who has taken charge as the new Chief Secretary, has also been given full additional responsibilities of the Water Resources and Revenue Departments. Normally, regular subjects are allocated to the person serving as Chief Secretary. But this time, Chandrababu is said to be doing everything differently, and officials themselves say that other calculations are playing a key role behind these decisions.