Arrest shocks ministers

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The arrest of excise minister Mopidevi Venkataramana on Thursday has shocked those in power who believed they enjoyed political immunity, and has left many fearful of who will be the next minister to go behind bars in the Jagan Mohan Reddy assets case.

There were confabulations among bureaucrats in the state Secretariat as news of the minister’s arrest broke. Several ministers did not turn up at the Secretariat but rushed to Chief Minister Mr N. Kiran Kumar Reddy’s camp office in the evening to express solidarity with the arrested minister.

Ministers D. Sridhar Babu and K. Parthasarathi in a brief interaction with the media termed the arrest as unfortunate and described the minister as a soft spoken and nice person. “The Chief Minister scored the first round as he has sent a clear message that he will not come to the rescue of his own ministers involved in corruption cases, in sharp contrast to the YSR regime,” a senior official said. “The political impact of his strategy, however, is yet to be seen,” he added. The Chief Minister had taken a similar stand when bureaucrats had flocked to him to protest that the CBI in its ongoing investigation was targeting IAS officers.

“By not protecting his ministers, the Chief Minister also silenced our voice that the political bosses are spared in the investigation,” a principal secretary pointed out. Sources told this newspaper that the Chief Minister explained to the excise minister when they met on Wednesday night that he would have to quit the Cabinet. Not only did Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy get him to do so, he also got him to implicate former Chief Minister, the late Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy.

In his resignation letter, Mr Venkataramana, though indirectly, blamed YSR who he said made him sign on the files. Contrary to speculation of a resistance Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy succeeded in carrying the Cabinet with him. “The next litmus test for the CM is to handle the caste angle in the arrests,” a senior minister said referring to questions being raised about arresting a minister belonging to the BCs and not anyone from other castes.