Parties, CEO cross swords target poll chief

While former Congress minister Marri Sashidhar Reddy dashed off a letter to Mr Bhanwarlal on Thursday alleging that he deliberately conveyed to public through the media on Wednesday that the decision on re-verification was ordered by him but not as instructed by the Election Commission.

Later in the evening, Mr Bhanwarlal reiterated before the media that it was he who had ordered re-verification and not at the instance of EC. The CEO, mentioning Mr Sashidhar Reddy and Indrasena Reddy (BJP) by name, said they were unnecessarily casting aspersions and making statements against him without any basis.

“Political leaders are playing mazak on me,” he said. “When Sashidhar Reddy's complaint against me was not considered by EC, BJP leader Indrasena Reddy joined him and gave a similar complaint. They caused obstructions in the development of the city when I was Hyderabad collector a few years ago,” Mr Bhanwarlal said.

Reacting to allegations by the two leaders and complaints against him to the EC with regard to alleged deletion of 6.50 lakh voters in the city, he asked people not to fall victim to the trap of vicious propaganda by the leaders and appealed to voters to think about their credentials.

He said Mr Shashidhar Reddy, who is likely to contest in the event of a bypoll to Sanathnagar Assembly constituency, has been vigorously implementing his political plan for the past two months to attract voters.

“I am the officer allotted to AP Cadre, how can I take instructions from the TS Chief Minister? The allegations are totally false and intended to malign me,” Mr Bhanwarlal said.

He added, “The CEO post is the 18th post I am holding. I had earlier worked under six Chief Ministers and I was transferred a number of times just because I did not listen to them,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Mr Sashidhar Reddy said that it was “most unfortunate and unbecoming on the part of Mr Bhanwarlal for not mentioning the EC in the official press note issued by him.

In a strongly worded letter addressed the CEO, he said that when some TV channels started running scrolling that the EC has taken a decision on re-verification, Mr Bhanwarlal asked the TV channels to remove the reference to the EC.

“People have lost faith in you because of your conduct - disregarding the directions of the EC on many occasions over the last several months. Unless it is clearly conveyed that this re-verification is being done on the instructions of EC, people will only see this exercise as another ploy by you to cheat them, which, you should realise, unfortunately brings the EC into disrepute,” Mr Sashidhar Reddy said.

He added that in case the number of names deleted was more than 6.3 lakh, the CEO will have a lot to explain. “The re-verification process is ongoing, yet political parties have not been taken into confidence,” he said, describing it as “recklessness”.

Reacting to this, Mr Bhanwarlal said the same leaders had asked the media on Wednesday to write that re-verification was being done on the orders of EC and not by him. He said that he had requested the EC to extend the date for fresh enrolment of voters.

“However, Division 130, Subashnagar, which falls under my constituency after delimitation, has a population of 72,240 voters, while Jeedimetla (Division 132) has 63,778 voters. Similarly, Gajularamaram division, after division has 44,244 voters and Ranga Reddynagar (Division 127) has 52,024,” he said.

“The major drawback if the divisions are not uniform is that with the allocated funds of Rs 1 crore per year, not all areas can be developed,” he said.