HYDERABAD: As soon as P Venkata Rami Reddy’s name emerged as TRS’ MLC candidate, Congress leaders lost no time in approaching the Chief Secretary urging him to reject Reddy’s resignation as Siddipet Collector.

PCC chief A Revanth Reddy who has been alleging that Rami Reddy’s company was a beneficiary in the Kokapet land e-auction, referred to his complaint made to the CBI in September. “The fraud, corruption and involvement of MSTC, bureaucrats and top political heads of the TS resulted in undue favour to the Rajapushpa Group, owned by the IAS officer’s family. Days after my complaint to CBI, the official portal of the HMDA was hacked and data was deleted, which indicates the conspiracy,” he pointed out in the letter to CS, besides other corruption charges.

Later, speaking to the media at Gandhi Bhavan, the Congress leader recalled how the official worked against the interests of Telangana while closing ranks with former CM N Kiran Kumar Reddy on a water project in Chittoor. “Both KCR and his nephew T Harish Rao created a furore about Rami Reddy’s proximity to Kiran Kumar Reddy prior to bifurcation. Interestingly, the same official is now close to KCR like a blend of ‘whiskey and soda’,” Revanth said.

Shabbir Ali recalled the way how the same official had embarrassed the bureaucratic world by bowing to KCR. “The rules clearly state that, “Every member of the Service shall maintain Political Neutrality.” On September 7, Shabbir Ali had written to President Ram Nath Kovind about the conduct of Collectors of Kamareddy (Dr A Sharath) and Siddipet (Venkata Rami Reddy) who had violated the All India Services (Conduct) Rules, 1986.

The Congress leader said that if the CS did not reject the resignation of the “corrupt official”, it would send a wrong message to honest bureaucrats. The Congress is planning legal steps on the matter, he said.