Hyderabad: Excise minister T. Padma Rao on Tuesday directed the Telangana State Beverages Corporation to remove its public relations officer Peeli Krishna, for making threatening calls to forest minister Jogu Ramanna in a local dispute in Nirmal district. Mr Padma Rao told the media at the Secretariat on Tuesday that Mr Krishna was an outsourced employee and not appointed by him.
“Krishna has no business to call Mr Ramanna and threaten him against intervening in the dispute. This is a serious issue. When I got the details today, I immediately ordered the corporation to remove him,” Mr Padma Rao said. Krishna has been using his influence as PRO with the excise minister to call officials and non-officials and direct them to do certain things. He is also involved in the settlement of some land disputes.
In a village in Nirmal district he had a tiff with the local TRS leader M. Rajesam Goud, who approached Mr Ramanna for help. When he came to hear of this, Krishna called up Mr Ramanna and told him it was not proper for him to intervene and threatened that he would use the media to write adversely about him. This conversation of the public relations officer with the minister was recorded and went viral on Tuesday, forcing Mr Padma Rao to order his removal.
