Telugu Desam Party chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu often delivers lengthy speeches about respecting institutions whenever he gets an opportunity. He portrays himself as someone who respects institutions, while claiming that all Chief Ministers before him have undermined them. However, the alleged humiliation of Chief Secretary (CS) Sai Prasad in the presence of Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu on Monday has become a hot topic in political and official circles. Questions have arisen over whether this is how Chandrababu Naidu respects institutions. On Monday, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu held a review meeting on Cyclone Arnab. For the past two days, he has been issuing instructions to officials on the same issue. Chief Secretary Sai Prasad and several senior officials participated in the meeting.
However, in a surprising development, the Chief Secretary, who heads the state administration, was seated in the second row during the review meeting. Meanwhile, Vijay Anand, a retired Chief Secretary who is currently serving as Special Chief Secretary to the Energy Department, along with Katamneni Bhaskar and other officials, were seated in the front row, in front of Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu. What makes the episode even more unusual is that district collectors from several districts, along with senior police officials, also participated in the review meeting through video conference. Officials were reportedly taken aback when they saw where the Chief Secretary had been seated. Official circles have commented that such an incident had never occurred in the past. The government itself officially released photographs of the meeting.
This has triggered a debate over whether the government is acting as though it can disregard established protocol and seat anyone wherever it chooses. Many officials believe that this was undoubtedly an insult to the Chief Secretary. IAS officers feel that such a practice does not set a good precedent. A senior IAS officer questioned what respect the Chief Secretary, who is supposed to lead the state’s administrative machinery, could command if such an incident occurred in a review meeting chaired by the Chief Minister himself. During the review meeting, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu issued several instructions. He directed officials to alert people according to the cyclone’s likely impact and ensure that there was no loss of life or property. He instructed them to assess the intensity of rainfall, winds and flood flows expected due to the cyclone and take appropriate measures. He also directed officials to analyse information about previous cyclones and issue timely warnings to farmers and the public. District collectors were instructed to move people living in coastal areas to cyclone shelters.