Telugu Desam Party headed by N Chandrababu Naidu has faced a humiliating defeat in the recent assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh in the hands of YSR Congress party headed by Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.
It is nothing but natural that all those who had been appointed in various positions by the previous TDP government should make a graceful exit.
Many of them had resigned from their posts as a matter of principle. Some others, like Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) chairman Putta Sudhakar Yadav, tried to cling to their positions till the last moment.
Among such people who refused to step down was Kandula Ramesh Chowdary, editor of the official magazine “Andhra Pradesh,” which is brought out in two languages – English and Telugu.
Even after the change of guard in the state, Ramesh did not resign from the post. On Tuesday, he was virtually shunted out of the office and his chambers was locked by the department authorities.
Reason: Ramesh brought out the June issue of Andhra Pradesh magazine with big blunders. During the TDP regime, the magazine was brought out in all colour editions on costly newsprint and was published at a private printer at a very high cost.
But the June issue, which is supposed to highlight the formation of Jagan Mohan Reddy government was in black and white.
The headline of the cover story was insulting for the new chief ministers. Instead of saying: “Jagan Ane Nenu” (I, Jagan), the headline read: “Jagan Ane Athadu..” (He, Jagan).
Even the photograph depicting emotional scene of Jagan’s mother Vijayalakshmi hugging him at the swearing-in ceremony was also ridiculed saying: “Jagan crying after taking oath.”
What is worse, the magazine carried the observations saying the people did not believe such a huge majority for Jagan and were wondering whether he was “EVM chief minister.”
Naturally, this has angered the new government and especially, Jagan was very furious on seeing the magazine.
He immediately asked the department people to fire Ramesh. When the editor came to his office as usual on Tuesday, he was virtually thrown out!
In the past, Ramesh had worked with various publications like Eenadu and Deccan Chronicle, besides television channels like TV5 and Express TV, managed to get into Andhra Pradesh magazine after TDP came to power in 2014.
Needless to say, Ramesh belongs to Naidu’s caste and was recommended by Lokesh for the post at a high remuneration.