Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, on Tuesday, removed IYR Krishna Rao from the chairperson's post for Andhra Pradesh Brahmin Welfare Corporation after Rao shared content on social media that put Naidu, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and its founder NT Rama Rao in bad light.
Rao, who retired in January 2016, has been made the head of Brahmin Welfare Corporation – a state-run body tasked to look after the welfare of Brahmin community in the state with a budget of Rs 170 crore-- by Chandrababu Naidu government.
The posts, which were shared by Rao a month earlier, started going viral of late. One of the posts took a jibe at TDP for creating 'ruckus' after YSRCP chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy met Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Further, he had also shared a cartoon where Inturi Ravikiran was seen 'threatening' Andhra IT Minister Nara Lokesh (Naidu's son).
Rao responds
While addressing the media on Tuesday afternoon, Rao thanked Naidu for his tenure as Chief Secretary from 2014-16. "He was very generous to me, and even offered me the post of Chief Information Commission. However, I refused and asked for the Brahmin Corp, as I wanted to serve here," a media report quoted him. He said he has been receiving phone calls from India and abroad demanding his resignation.
"I have not committed a criminal act. My ego is hurt but I'm taking it in my stride," Rao said adding, "I'm trying to do good for the Brahmins. I'm only leaving because they fired me."
On the arrest of Ravikiran, Rao said: "I was hurt by that move. I started thinking what kind of system we are living in. Are we fascist? I believe that it was wrong, so I just shared three or four posts in protest. Is that a criminal mistake? I shared those posts without comment, because I felt that we should not put criminal cases on satirists."
