Hyderabad: Maintaining that all are equal
before law, the Congress leaders in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday said
that it was wrong to say that the IAS officers were being made
"scapegoats" in the ongoing CBI probe into various corruption
cases in the state.
"There is nothing wrong in the IAS officers expressing
their anguish. But, the guilty will be punished, whether it is
a minister or a servant. All are equal before law," State
Congress president Botsa Satyanarayana told reporters.
Expressing similar feelings, state Rural Development
Minister D Manikya Vara Prasad said, "Those who needed to be
caught as part of the investigation are being caught. If
ministers are found involved, they will also be caught."
The Congress leaders were reacting to the remarks of IAS
officers who met Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Friday
to express their anguish over the way the bureaucrats were
being made "scapegoats" in the ongoing CBI probe.
Senior Congress MLA and former minister JC Diwakar
Reddy also opined that a minister at best could influence
bureaucrats, but how could he put pressure on them.
"They are saying that only small fish are being caught.
The big fish will also be caught," another Congress MLA G
Veerasiva Reddy said.
Meanwhile, the main opposition Telugu Desam alleged
that the comments made by the bureaucrats confirm that
irregularities took place during the Congress rule in the
state and that the officers should name the ministers if they
had pressurised them.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, February 05, 2012, 19:28