TDP minister draws the ire of Chandrababu Naidu for critical FB posts, sacked

IYR Krishna Rao had been posting defamatory messages against the CM of Andhra Pradesh for a couple of months. Rao was the head of Brahmin Welfare Corporation and was removed for sharing social media critical posts against Naidu. Government officials wonder why he has been doing this when he is still a part of the party.

Following a couple of posts on Facebook by former Andhra Pradesh Chief secretary IYR Krishna Rao, TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu removed him from his post-retirement job.  He was seated as the chairman of the Brahmin Welfare Corporation and was removed for sharing social media critical posts against Naidu.

It is said that Rao had retired in January 2016 and was later appointed to head the state-run body that had a budget of over 170 crore. The committee looks after the issues of the Brahmin community in the state. The bureaucrat has been posting controversial posts on various social media platforms, calling the CM as casteist. He also accused the CM for giving a tax concession to 'Gautamiputra Satakarni'- that stars Mr Naidu's brother-in-law N Balakrishna as well as Baahubali.

In another post, he accused Naidu of being the mind behind a cartoon critical of his father-in-law NT Rama Rao published in a popular Telugu newspaper 23 years ago. This was the final nail in the coffin as Naidu is very sensitive about his relations with his father-in-law and has been averting the limelight in this context after he dethroned him in a palace coup in 1995. Meanwhie, speaking to NDTV, media adviser to the Naidu government, Parakala Prabhakar said, "We don't know why IYR Krishna Rao shared these kinds of posts when he was part of the government... Mr Chandrababu Naidu always had great regard for him."

To this, Rao said that the government should have asked him for an explanation and he would have been more than happy to give it. He said, "I have posted and commented from (US President) Donald Trump to crops in Srikakulam (district of the state). I also posted that tax concessions on 'Gautamiputra Satakarni' and extra shows for Baahubali is not right. They have attacked me for that."

He also said that he felt humiliated on different occasions by the government. He had been trying to meet the CM but was denied access. Blaming the CM of being intolerant toward political satire, he further said, "If the government had asked me for an explanation on my posts, I would most certainly have explained." Rao also drew criticism from his party members who said that he could not have continued in the same position after having posted such defamatory posts on the Internet.