Jana Sena Party (JSP) political affairs committee chairman Nadendla Manohar on February 3 (Saturday) demanded that the government should put the facts related to the appointment of advisers before the public if it did not violate any procedure thereof, and sought to know with what criteria it appointed 20 advisers in the Cabinet rank.
Mr. Manohar said the relevant G.O.s were shrouded in secrecy as the government did not want the lid on the controversy to be blown off.
Addressing the media at the JSP office, near Mangalagiri, Mr. Manohar said he exposed the scandalous appointment of the advisers on the basis of a deep study done by him, and pointed out that a Division Bench of the A.P. High Court expressed serious reservations about it.
In reply, the government had submitted to the court that it would stop appointing new advisers and engage them only to assist the Ministers, if required. The government also stated in its affidavit that it would formulate a new policy concerning the appointment of advisers, but went on to appoint some more later.
Mr. Manohar said, instead of giving its own rebuttal to his allegations, the government let its mouthpiece ‘Sakshi’ to do a fact check, wherein it covered up the stark facts. According to it, a sum of ₹29.60 crore was spent on advisers in the budget for the current financial year, whereas a recent tweet by the YSR Congress Party pegged it at around ₹49 crore in the last five years.
He said the government’s communications adviser (who writes speeches for the Chief Minister) was being paid a whopping ₹2 lakh per month, whereas a Minister was entitled to a basic pay of just ₹14,000 p.m. Another adviser was given additional security at the cost of the public exchequer (the money spent on him was being drawn from the skill development fund), Mr. Manohar said.
