IAS officers urge Andhra CM to act against minister

Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers Tuesday urged Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy to take action against state minister T.G. Venkatesh for his remark that non-performing public servants should be shot dead in public.

A day after the minister defended his remarks, a delegation of IAS Officers’ Association called on the chief minister and requested him to take action against the minor irrigation minister.

The delegation said the minister’s remarks were high objectionable and would demoralize the IAS officicers.

Venkatesh, a businessman-turned-politician from Kurnool district, had made the controversial remarks at an official function, angering the bureaucrats.

Defending his remarks Monday, the minister said both non-performing officers and politicians should be shot dead in public. He even called for an amendment to the constitution of India for the purpose.

The minister claimed said that even India’s first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, held the same views.

Venkatesh had stated that the IAS officers, emboldened by their job security, were behaving in a headstrong manner. He criticized the bureaucrats for returning the files with some query or the other.

“I said that the non-performers should be killed. It is unfortunate if somebody supports even the non-performers,” he said while reacting to the resolution of the IAS Officers’ Association condemning his remarks.

The IAS Officers’ Association at its emergency meeting Saturday said the minister’s statement has the potential to incite the public and create law and order problems

“Loose talk of mob justice by the Minister lowers the dignity of his own office, demoralises bureaucracy and affects the image of the Government,” the resolution said.

A section of serving and retired bureaucrats want the government to book the minister as his statement amounted to an incitement to murder.