Vijayawada: Hours after Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy took oath, the AP government appointed Mr Gautam Sawang, director-general, vigilance and enforcement, as the DGP with full additional charge on Thursday. It had long been speculated that Mr Sawang would be made the DGP.
His predecessor R.P. Thakur was transferred as commissioner, printing, stationery and stores purchase — a loopline post. The orders were issued by AP Chief Secretary L.V. Subrahmanyam. ACB director-general A.B. Venkateswara Rao was ordered to report to the general administration department for further posting.
Mr Kumar Vishwajeet, who was the ADGP, was posted as ACB DG with full additional charge. Mr Subrahmanyam also issued orders transferring principal secretary Shamsher Singh Rawat to finance from the social welfare department and secretary Solomon Arokia Raj from industries as secretary to the Chief Minister.
During the elections, the YSRC had lodged complaints with the Election Commission alleging that Mr Thakur and Mr Rao had colluded with the TD to harass opponents.
The YSRC alleged that Mr Rao, chief of the intelligence department, had ordered putting surveillance of YSRC leaders. The EC later transferred Mr Rao.
The TD government had brieflyresisted Mr Rao’s transfer before complying with the order. After the completion of the elections, Mr Rao was made ACB DG. Mr Thakur continued as DGP till Thursday.
The YSRC was miffed with Mr Thakur for his handling of the knife attack on Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy at the Visakhapatnam airport; he had announced that the accused J. Srinivas Rao had attacked the YSRC leader to earn him some sympathy.
Then Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu made mockery of the incident by terming the attack as ‘Kodi kathi (knife use in cockfights) attack’ and claiming it was pre-planned attack by the YSRC.
