Details of “Andhra employees” to be scrutinised by unions

Escalating tensions in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Thursday said that “Andhra-domicile” employees would not be allowed to work in the offices of Telangana after he assumed office as Chief Minister of the new State that comes into being on June 2.

Mr. Rao’s comments come against a backdrop of a raging controversy over what Telangana employees allege to be deliberate inclusion of “Andhra-domicile” employees on the list of staff for the new Telangana Secretariat.

The new Telangana government will study the list of employees as on the date of passage of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill and send back staff from Seemandhra — both in district and State-level posts — to that region, Mr. Rao told a meeting of employees from Telangana.

Mr. Rao said he had informed Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan that the redeployment of employees would be reviewed after he assumed office because this process was not permitted in the absence of an elected government as per the recommendations of the States Reorganisation Commission.

In this context, Mr. Rao asked the participants of the meeting to send details of “Andhra employees” included on the Telangana list or to name them at the “war room” being run by various unions before June 2. The details should include place of birth and domicile. “There is no place for a mix of employees on the high-security premises. They cannot be allowed even at the gates,” Mr. Rao said.