Amaravati: Yanamala Ramakrishnudu criticised newly appointed Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh LV Subramanyam for interfering in financial matters of the government. In a press release on Saturday Yanamala questioned the appointment of the Chief Secretary and the recent decisions taken by him.

The Central Election Commission had earlier replaced the State’s Chief Secretary (CS) Anil Chandra Puneetha with LV Subramanyam. This triggered a series of outbursts by the TDP leaders including Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who called the new Chief Secretary a co-accused and covert, leading to silent tussle between the TDP-led government and the bureaucrat.

Yanamala stated that the collection and disbursement of government funds was a decision that was to be made by the Cabinet and that their decision was final in the matter. However, he glossed over the fact that when the Election Code was in force the chief minister and his cabinet did not have full-fledged ministerial authority. Yanamala criticised the CS saying he was violating the Service Rules and reminded him that he was a subordinate to the cabinet ministers. Once again, he appeared to be unaware of the powers of a chief secretary of Government when Election Code was in force.

In the past few days the CS had expressed his displeasure in the way the Finance department and Finance Secretary were conducting the affairs of the State. He had sought explanations from officials as to how the payments were being made without any priority or order.

LV Subramanyam in a review meeting questioned the action taken by the state finance department for issuing GOs stating that the interest rate on loans taken should be less than 8 % initially. However, that was deviated and the state had given permission to take loans at high interest rates. The Finance Department officials said they were helpless as the cabinet had already approved of these loans. It is reported that the State government had tried to take another loan to the tune of Rs 1,000 Crore on April 15, but the Chief Secretary had refused permission.

Yanamala's criticism came after LV Subramanyam conducted a review meeting recently seeking an explanation from officials about bills passed by the AP finance department.

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