india

Updated: Jun 20, 2017 22:00 IST

Former Andhra Pradesh chief secretary IYR Krishna Rao was sacked as chairperson of Andhra Pradesh Brahmin Welfare Corporation on Tuesday for allegedly making comments against certain decisions of the Chandrababu Naidu-led government on social media.

Rao also allegedly shared certain posts written by others against Naidu and the ruling Telugu Desam Party on his Facebook page.

The orders sacking Rao were issued soon after he met the chief minister in Amaravati to offer an explanation for his posts on social media.

Rao, who retired last year as the first chief secretary of the state after the bifurcation of combined Andhra Pradesh state, was appointed as chairperson of AP Brahmin Welfare Corporation constituted for the first time by the Naidu government to help poor Brahmins.

In the last one year, the corporation has taken up several programmes for the welfare of the Brahmin community.

Official sources, however, said Naidu had been receiving several complaints from party leaders and MLAs against Rao for the last few months, saying he was hobnobbing with the opposition YSR Congress party leaders and that the benefits of various welfare schemes being implemented by the corporation were not reaching the right people.

Despite establishing the first of its kind corporation for Brahmins, the TDP was not getting any political mileage because of the chairperson’s attitude, they complained.

What angered Naidu was comments posted by Rao on his Facebook page, questioning the government’s decision to grant entertainment tax exemption to the Telugu film – Gautami Putra Satakarni, in which Naidu’s brother-in-law Nandamuri Balakrishna was the lead character and also allowing the distributors of Baahubali-2 to screen more shows in theatres and increase the ticket prices.

Rao also found fault with the Naidu government for arresting and filing cases against social media activist Inturi Ravi Kiran, who allegedly posted satirical cartoons against the chief minister and his son Nara Lokesh.

He shared the comments and counter-postings of some of his friends on Facebook, attacking Naidu.

However, Rao strongly defended his postings.

“I don’t find anything wrong in my comments or sharing of some postings. In my view, it is my fundamental duty to express my views and they have nothing to do with my functioning as the chairman of Brahmin welfare corporation,” he said.

On the allegations he had benefitted some people from the YSR Congress party, he said he strictly went by the merits of the applicants in extending benefits under the corporation and not by their political affiliations.

“If the chief minister thought I should have behaved like a TDP nominee, I am sorry, I would never become one,” he said.