[ZESTCaste] CM’s Reddy-made riposte

http://www.bangaloremirror.com/article/10/2009102920091029005932750d8476bc0/-CM%E2%80%99s-Reddymade-riposte------------------------.html
CM's Reddy-made riposte
He shunts out Bellary officials known to be close to the mining
barons, brings in those who are 'not so obliging'
Bangalore Mirror Bureau
Posted On Thursday, October 29, 2009 at 12:59:32 AM
Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, who has been under fire from Bellary's
Reddy brothers since the past few months, fired a salvo of his own on
Wednesday by shunting out bureaucrats, who are considered close to his
detractors, from their current postings in Bellary district, the Reddy
brothers' pocketborough. Not only that, Yeddyurappa has replaced them
with officials who are known to have caused problems for the Reddy
group in the past.
Yeddyurappa cut short his tour of Mysore and Kodagu districts and
returned to Bangalore early on Wednesday. The first thing he did was
to move out Bellary's Deputy Commissioner Shivappa, Superintendent of
Police Seemanth Kumar Singh and District Conservator of Forests
Muthaiah, as well as the state health department's principal secretary
I R Perumal.
The chief minister reportedly instructed his office to see that the
transfer orders were formalised before 10.30 am, and to ensure that
the officials handed over charge to those posted in their place. A
transfer order in normal circumstances takes more than 24 hours to
take effect, sometimes more than a week. By this yardstick,
Wednesday's orders are the quickest in recent years.
Bellary DC Shivappa is a distant relative of health minister B
Sriramulu, who is a close confidant of the Reddy brothers. In his
place, the chief minister has posted IAS officer Harsh Gupta, who was
hitherto the Bidar DC.
As district SP, Yeddyurappa has brought in a police officer who had
given sleepless nights to the Reddy brothers during H D Kumaraswamy's
chief ministerial tenure. Dr D C Rajappa, a promotee rank SP, replaces
Seemanth Kimar Singh, who is a direct IPS officer. The Reddy brothers
were reportedly instrumental in getting Singh posted to Bellary. In
fact, Singh was spotted travelling with the Reddy brothers in their
helicopter during the last Lok Sabha elections.
BLOT ON RECORD
Rajappa was additional SP when Kumaraswamy was the chief minister, and
had booked illegal mining cases against the Reddy brothers. The Lok
Ayukta had raided Rajappa and booked a case under the Prevention of
Corruption Act against him for possessing wealth disproportionate to
his known sources of income. Despite that blot on his record, he has
been posted as Bellary SP.
District Conservator of Forests Muthappa, who was reportedly toeing
the line of the Reddy brothers by allowing illegal mining activities
in the forest areas of the district, has been replaced by Vishwajeeth
Mishra.
In what could be seen as a snub to Sreeramulu, the chief minister has
replaced principal secretary of the health department I R Perumal with
senior IAS officer Madan Gopal, without consulting the health
minister. Earlier, Sreeramulu had brought in Perumal in place of Madan
Gopal, with whom the health minister reportedly had differences.
Following the recent flood havoc in the state, Yeddyurappa had
transferred Gadag DC N V Prasad, reportedly for non-performance. This
had irked Sreeramulu, who is the minister in-charge for Gadag.
'TARGETING SC'
Reacting to the chief minister's transfer orders while speaking at a
function in Siruguppa, tourism minister Janardhana Reddy reportedly
said, "He is targeting SC/ST officers. The other day, he transferred
the Gadag DC. Today, it is the Bellary DC and the health department's
principal secretary. This government is anti-Dalit."
Incidentally, most of the officers who are close to the Reddy brothers
and Sreeramulu belong to the SC and ST communities. Sreeramulu himself
belongs to the Valmiki ST community, which had boosted the BJP's
fortunes in the assembly and Lok Sabha elections in North Karnataka.