Senior IAS officer Yerra Srilakshmi, who successfully managed to get into the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government on Friday, is likely to get a key post in the chief minister’s office (CMO).
Following a clearance from the Central Administrative Tribunal to her request for allocation of Andhra cadre, Srilakshmi reported to her duty to the General Administration Department on Friday.
“She would be given a posting in some department initially and later would be taken into the CMO. If Jagan insists, she might even get the direct posting in the CMO,” sources in the Secretariat said.
Ever since Jagan Mohan Reddy became the chief minister in May 2019, Srilakshmi, who had been allotted Telangana cadre, had been making desperate attempts to join his government on deputation.
Even Jagan made hectic lobbying with the Centre to bring her to Andhra Pradesh on deputation as the Telangana government led by K Chandrasekhar Rao had agreed to depute her. She, too, made a representation to the Centre.
But the Union ministry of personnel and training rejected her request and also the representation from the Jagan government stating that IAS officers of Secretary rank cannot be deputed from one state to another state.
As a result, Srilakshmi moved the CAT stating that she was wrongly allocated Telangana cadre based on her postal address which belonged to her father who had worked in Hyderabad.
She said she originally hailed from Visakhapatnam and hence, she be allocated Andhra cadre. The CAT considered her request favourably and gave her a favourable order.
Srilakshmi had served imprisonment in connection with Obulapuram mining case of Karnataka mining baron Gali Janardhan Reddy. Later, she also faced troubles in the CBI cases against Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Though she was later released on bail and returned to service, the Telangana state was formed and she had been allotted to the Telangana cadre.
She did not make any attempt to go to Andhra then, because of the Telugu Desam Party government headed by N Chandrababu Naidu and she might have thought she might have to face troubles from the Naidu government because of her involvement in the cases linked to Jagan.
Now that Srilakshmi is in Jagan government, she might get a plum posting because of the sacrifices she had made for the family.