Andhra Pradesh   

Nod for controversial GO by CMO official in A.P.

Special Correspondent

Chief Secretary goes into issue; another IAS officer behind

HYDERABAD: An enquiry by Chief Secretary J. Hari Narayan into the circumstances leading to issuance of the anti-media order is almost complete and it now remains to be seen whether any action will be taken since a senior bureaucrat in the Chief Minster's office had approved the controversial GO.

Between them, the CMO official and another senior IAS officer are said to have discussed the issue of appointing special public prosecutors to file defamation cases against editors and publishers and cleared GO Rt. 938. The draft order was reportedly circulated to the CMO but the senior official did not check the contents that triggered off a storm. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy and his political adviser K. V. P. Ramachandra Rao have been briefed about the findings.

Information is now available as to what set the ball rolling for issuing GO 938. The idea took birth last year when a Telugu daily was alleged to have "grossly misreported" the Chief Minister's visit to Puttaparthi. This report annoyed the Chief Minister as it stated that he was made to wait for an audience with the Satya Sai Baba while his Cabinet colleagues and officials were given `darshan' immediately.

Legal action

Concerned about the `distortion of facts and damage to Dr. Reddy's reputation' because the Chief Minister met the spiritual leader at the appointed time, some officials proposed that legal action should be initiated against the newspaper. They also suggested similar action against other papers that published defamatory reports and, accordingly, drafted a note. Dr. Reddy's frequent criticism of some newspapers only emboldened them to build a strong case.

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