The abrupt transfer of senior IAS officer of Andhra Pradesh J S V Prasad, who had been the special chief secretary of Endowments Department, from his post on Tuesday night, created ripples in the Hindu religious circles.
The transfer of Prasad comes at a time when the Hindu groups are fuming and fretting at the state government over the burning of a 62-year old chariot at famous temple of Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy at Antarvedi in East Godavari district.
Though Prasad was not directly connected to the incident, he was shifted out of the post suddenly and posted as director general of AP Human Resources Development Institute at Bapatla, which is generally considered to be a loop line post.
Senior journalist M V R Sastry, who has been championing the cause of the Hindus, described Prasad as one of the most upright IAS officers with no shady background and said he would go strictly by the rule book.
“The sudden transfer of such an officer has given rise to suspicions,” he said.
Sastry pointed out that Prasad had been a tough nut to crack for many corrupt officials and politicians since he had been the Endowments Commissioner in the regime of Y S Rajasekhar Reddy in the combined Andhra Pradesh. But he was forcibly transferred under pressure.
During the Chandrababu Naidu regime between 2014-19, too, Prasad was the principal secretary (revenue, Endowments), but he had not succumbed to pressures from the TDP leaders who tried to grab endowments lands in Kurnool and Hyderabad.
“Naidu, too, was forced to shift Prasad,” he said.
During the Jagan Mohan Reddy regime, his name was tipped for the TTD executive officer post, but again the Jagan government had to succumb to pressures from corrupt politicians and keep him in loop line.
“Very recently, he was brought back into the Endowments department as special chief secretary, but now, he was shunted to the loop line post again,” Sastry said, adding that the transfer of Prasad clearly showed the kind of threat looming large on Hinduism.