Chennai: Claiming protective umbrella, former chief secretary P. Rama Mohana Rao on Tuesday invoked late chief minister J. Jayalalithaa saying he was appointed to the post by her and that she had been training him since 1994.
In his 18-minute interaction with the media, Mr Rao said he was appointed by Puratchi Thalaivi Amma, "appointed by, sponsored by, nurtured by Hon'ble madam who is my department leader."
"I have been serving under the instructions of Madam and you all know how did I deal for the past six to seven months. For 75 days I have been protecting hon'ble madam's health and after her death how did we manage her funeral and how did I manage Vardah cyclone? You all know," he said, invoking her name more than once.
"I am not a coward, I have trained my hon'ble madam. She has been training me since my days as Chengalpet collector in 1994. And for the past five and a half years, she trained me and she positioned me as CS," Mr Rao said, in response to a question.
Political analysts said Mr Rao sounded like a politician on Tuesday and he had violated service rules by openly come out to the media and criticizing the government. "Only forum where he should air his grievance is court. Why is he not going there? Why is criticising the government and going against the service rules. By criticizing the government and invoking the former chief minister, he is sounding like a politician," political analyst and lawyer Ravindran Duraisamy said.
Congress calls Rao’s bluff
Congress on Tuesday punched holes in former chief secretary's claim that its vice president Rahul Gandhi had supported him after I-T raids on his residence.
"We don't know when our vice president said something in support of him? He has not issued any statement in favour of the bureaucrat or against the raids at his residence," a senior Congress leader in New Delhi said.
He said he was at loss to understand why the former chief secretary dragged the Congress vice president's name into the issue. TNCC chief Su Thirunavukarasar said Mr Rahul had only raised questions about the procedures involved in I-T raids and that too not in context with this incident.
Speaking to reporters at the airport here, the TNCC leader said BJP should not try to politicise the issue by dragging Mr Gandhi into it just based on a claim from the former chief secretary.
Addressing a press conference, Mr Rao said on Tuesday that he was grateful to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Mr Gandhi and AIADMK spokesperson S R Balasubramanian for their support.
