Chennai: Virtually challenging the Tamil Nadu Government led by O. Panneerselvam, former chief secretary P. Rama Mohana Rao on Tuesday claimed he was “still the chief secretary” and this government has “no guts to serve transfer order” on him. The former top bureaucrat also claimed there was no safety and security to the people of Tamil Nadu after the demise of J. Jayalalithaa, who had handpicked him for the top job.
Addressing a press conference at his residence in Anna Nagar, Mr Rao, who was discharged from a private hospital on Monday after being treated for chest pain, tore into the Union Government, CRPF and the I-T department, wanting to know “where was the state government and whether they (Centre) have respect for the government.”
Invoking the late chief minister every now and then during the course of his interaction with the media, the former top bureaucrat said neither the CRPF nor the I-T would have mustered courage to enter the premises of secretariat and the chamber of the chief secretary if she was alive. He also claimed he was kept under house arrest at “gun point” by the CRPF.
Giving political overtones to the I-T raids that cost his job, Mr Rao claimed he is being targeted because he thinks he will be a “big hurdle to many, many people” who may be thinking that “he is a hard core man and he will abide by whatever madam Jayalalithaa has told him.” “I am being targeted. My life is under threat. My life is in danger,” he said.
The 1985-batch IAS officer, who superceded 17 officers to clinch the top job early this year, sought to know how the CRPF managed to enter his residence and the chief secretary’s chamber, which has “secrets of many chief ministers” at the Fort St George and whether they had obtained prior permission from the Chief Minister.
“All they wanted to do is to attack the office of the Chief Secretary. Will this end at this? People should know there is no security (in Tamil Nadu). Anybody can enter any body's house. CRPF can come, CISF can come and military can come and this is the condition of Tamil Nadu. They have no respect to the state government. Who will protect the people of Tamil Nadu?” an agitated Mr Rao asked.
“If this is the position of the chief secretary, what happens to AIADMK workers, state government servants and bureaucrats?” Mr Rao asked. Charging the Tamil Nadu government of not even mustering the guts to serve him his transfer order, Mr Rao claimed he was still the chief secretary of the state and invoked the late chief minister's name more than thrice.
“I was under house arrest in this house by the CRPF. The Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu, it (raid) is a constitutional challenge on the office of the Chief Secretary. I was the Chief Secretary and I am the Chief Secretary. This government has no guts to serve me a copy of the transfer order. Still I claim I am the Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu appointed by Puratchi Thalaivi Amma, appointed by, sponsored by, nurtured by Hon'ble madam who is my department leader. I am still the Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu,” he said.
“May be the new chief secretary is an in-charge, I don't know,” he said.Mr Rao was sacked from the post of chief secretary on Thursday and was kept on compulsory wait. The government website had update his position on Thursday evening, hours after he was removed from the post.
The I-T investigators who knocked at his door on December 21 at around 5.30 am “kept me under house arrest for 36 hours” and the search warrant had only the name of his son Vivek Pappisetty, Mr Rao claimed.
“Why did they search my chamber at the Secretariat when the warrant had only mentioned my son's name? Is he the chief secretary?” he asked.
