The State Secretariat on Saturday wore a different look. There was a mix of impatience, silence and curiosity in the air. The corridors of power were rife with speculations that the CBI's teams would descend on the protected area.
That never happened, but staff at the Secretariat staff believe that the CBI, currently investigating the wealth that Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy allegedly illegally amassed, will conduct unprecedented raids to get to the bottom of the truth.
There were also reports that a section of IAS officials met Chief Secretary S V Prasad to express their 'grievance' that a swoop on a senior IAS man, B P Acharya, would demoralise their ranks and send wrong signals to the common man.
The pragmatic Chief Secretary is understood to have limited his views and his reply since he is fast approaching his superannuation deadline.
Possibly for reasons related to the raids, many ministers stayed away from the Secretariat on Saturday. Several senior officials also abstained from their work.
The Telangana ministers, who had resolved to work to do away with the mounting pressure from all concerned, made no headway either, to stand by their latest decision to resume their duties as usual.
And Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy's being away due to a tour of Vizag is now being used as an alibi. These Telangana ministers have reportedly received a signal from the Telangana Journalists' Association that their
re-entry into the Secretariat was not well received by the Telangana protagonists and public. (INN)