Convicted ex-Minister takes part in government function
HOSUR, JANUARY 31, 2019 00:00 IST
Convicted ex-Minister Balakrishna Reddy along with Krishnagiri MP Ashok Kumar at the flower marketing building stone-laying ceremony in Hosur on Wednesday.
Balakrishna Reddy was sentenced to jail in a case of rioting
The prominence accorded to a convicted former minister at a government department’s event has raised questions of propriety. Former Minister for Youth and Sports Affairs Balakrishna Reddy, who was recently convicted and sentenced to three years’ jail in a case of rioting and destruction of government property, was accorded the centre-stage, to co-preside over an event by the Agriculture Department here on Wednesday.
The sentence has been suspended as he had gone on an appeal. But, that he had been stripped of his ministerial berth, and had to even vacate his MLA seat (Hosur) in view of the conviction, seemed to have been lost on those who organised the event.
On Wednesday, the Department of Agricultural Marketing and Agri Business organised a bhoomi puja for a flower marketing complex here.
Mr. Reddy was given the pride of centre-stage at the event, with the district officials also present.
Sporting a garland and in the company of Krishnagiri MP K. Ashok Kumar, District Revenue Officer S. Shanti and Hosur Sub Collector K.Vimal Raj, Mr. Reddy held a digging bar, symbolic of the stone laying ceremony.
“Why does this surprise us, when straightforward questions of propriety over the continuance of Jayalalithaa’s portrait or a mausoleum for her were raised in view of her conviction, they were normalised and received sanctions from the courts themselves?”asked Hosur-based writer Aadhavan Deetchanya.
When The Hindu contacted the DRO she was in a meeting and said she would revert. But, she did not.
“We had invited the MLAs, and maybe the local MP invited him (Mr. Reddy). This is political, and we do not know anything,” said Ramamurthy, Deputy Director of Agricultural Marketing, who was in Chennai and did not attend the event.
HOSUR, JANUARY 31, 2019 00:00 IST
Convicted ex-Minister Balakrishna Reddy along with Krishnagiri MP Ashok Kumar at the flower marketing building stone-laying ceremony in Hosur on Wednesday.
Balakrishna Reddy was sentenced to jail in a case of rioting
The prominence accorded to a convicted former minister at a government department’s event has raised questions of propriety. Former Minister for Youth and Sports Affairs Balakrishna Reddy, who was recently convicted and sentenced to three years’ jail in a case of rioting and destruction of government property, was accorded the centre-stage, to co-preside over an event by the Agriculture Department here on Wednesday.
The sentence has been suspended as he had gone on an appeal. But, that he had been stripped of his ministerial berth, and had to even vacate his MLA seat (Hosur) in view of the conviction, seemed to have been lost on those who organised the event.
On Wednesday, the Department of Agricultural Marketing and Agri Business organised a bhoomi puja for a flower marketing complex here.
Mr. Reddy was given the pride of centre-stage at the event, with the district officials also present.
Sporting a garland and in the company of Krishnagiri MP K. Ashok Kumar, District Revenue Officer S. Shanti and Hosur Sub Collector K.Vimal Raj, Mr. Reddy held a digging bar, symbolic of the stone laying ceremony.
“Why does this surprise us, when straightforward questions of propriety over the continuance of Jayalalithaa’s portrait or a mausoleum for her were raised in view of her conviction, they were normalised and received sanctions from the courts themselves?”asked Hosur-based writer Aadhavan Deetchanya.
When The Hindu contacted the DRO she was in a meeting and said she would revert. But, she did not.
“We had invited the MLAs, and maybe the local MP invited him (Mr. Reddy). This is political, and we do not know anything,” said Ramamurthy, Deputy Director of Agricultural Marketing, who was in Chennai and did not attend the event.
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