Andhra Pradesh government should shun malicious politics

During the last 29 days of lockdown, the focus has been on the graph of Covid-19 cases across India, how many were quarantined, how many died and how many were primary and secondary contacts, how the virus had spread, shortage of rapid testing kits or shortage of other infrastructure facilities etc. Like cricket score board, every State has been trying to convey to the people that they were more effective in containing the spread of virus.

Lot of appreciation for the doctors, sanitary workers, para medical staff, police, media and all those who have come to be known as frontline warriors has been pouring in. But one aspect which even the State of Andhra Pradesh failed to notice or does not want to give due credit is the fact that the administrative hero who has been a livewire contact between the Centre and the States in the dissemination of information on everything pertaining to corona is an officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre.

Coronavirus has been a pandemic which was not taken seriously as soon it surfaced in China but once it started spreading and served a major blow to the global health and economy and has brought the entire world to a standstill, all countries woke up to the grim reality and started taking measures to contain the spread as there is no cure for this disease. Under such circumstances, sharing of information becomes an important tool to evolve strategies to fight the deadly virus. Gathering countrywide information and sharing with the media is certainly a herculean task. Sharing of information at such a time becomes very much important so that people can be cautioned on the need to follow the guidelines issued by the Centre and States to contain the virus and also to create a sense of confidence that the situation in the State had not gone out of hand.

Interestingly, the officer who handled the situation very efficiently is an officer from Andhra Pradesh cadre. Luv Aggarwal has been the face of the Union government in regard to conveying the decisions taken by the Central government with absolute clarity which had helped the States in formulating their own rules depending upon the local conditions. Aggarwal, who is Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, is a low profile officer and feels that he has been performing the work assigned to him and there is nothing very special about him.

It is sad that political acrimony has been taking an upper hand in Andhra Pradesh even when the State is yet to come to grips with the problem of corona and contain its spread. The leaders who have been virtually unleashing volley of accusations against anyone who questions them have failed to tell the world about the person who should have been recognised as pride of Andhra Pradesh. The hidden talent of an individual comes to fore during crisis and here Aggarwal emerged as 'Covid information hero.' His briefing is precise to the point with utmost clarity.

The State government which lost an opportunity to own State cadre officer doing yeomen service at the Centre also faced an embarrassing situation on Wednesday as the IRS officer Krishna Kishore who was suspended by the YSRCP government in December for alleged irregularities in Andhra Pradesh while he was the CEO of AP Economic Development Board has been given a promotion by the Centre as Chief Commissioner, Income Tax. Kishore had challenged the State government's decision in Central Administrative Tribunal which had set aside the suspension order. He played a major role in bringing Kia Motors to the State. He apparently earned the wrath of the YSRCP government since he was among the team of officials who had investigated the case of disproportionate assets against Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy in 2010. It's time the State government put greater attention on issues and deferred political rhetoric to a future date.