Telangana Congress Wants Somesh Kumar Sacked

Congress senior leader Marri Shashidhar Reddy has demanded that the State government remove senior IAS officer Somesh Kumar from his services immediately instead of merely transferring him from the GHMC Commissioner's post.

Speaking to the media Saturday, Reddy said that his party would bury Somesh Kumar upon its return to power.

Alleging that 25,000 voters' names had been removed from the voters' list only in the Sanath Nagar constituency, Reddy demanded that the government also initiate action against State Election Commissioner Bhanwar Lal.

Stating that he had collected documentary evidence with regard to the removal of the voters' names from the GHMC office, Reddy challenged the State government to initiate action against him if it had the guts.

Reddy accused Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao of personally getting the names deleted from the voters' list with help of Somesh Kumar, and said that his Party had submitted all the needed evidence in this regard to the Central Election Commission.

Speaking separately, TPCC chief official spokesperson Dasoju Sravan Kumar alleged that the Chief Minister had filled his pockets with the money meant for the labourers, and demanded that KCR answer the people.

Kumar said that the Warangal by-election was the result of KCR's political game plan, and that ex-GHMC Commissioner Somesh Kumar had become a scapegoat in the selfish politics of KCR.

Meanwhile, new GHMC Commissioner B Janardhan Reddy today took over charge from Sumesh Kumar, who has been transferred as Principal Secretary to the tribal welfare department.

Somesh Kumar, an IAS officer, said that he was not unhappy over his transfer from the GHMC Commissioner's post.

Speaking to the media after assuming his new office, Kumar said that the State government had the authority to transfer any official from one posting to another.

He said that he had no special love for any department, and had joined the new department immediately.

He also said that the people would decide whether the allegations leveled by some persons against him were true.

The transfer of Kumar came as a surprise in bureaucratic circles as he is reported to have had close relations with the Chief Minister KCR. However, the Opposition Parties had levelled allegations that lakhs of voters' names had been deleted from the GHMC voters' lists under him.