"Mafia Rule In State": KTR Takes On Congress Over Top Bureaucrat's Voluntary Retirement

Telangana's Revenue Secretary Syed Ali Murtaza Rizvi's move to take voluntary retirement has sparked the latest face-off between the state's ruling Congress and the opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi or BRS. Within hours of the official taking voluntary retirement, BRS working President KT Rama Rao has declared that neither industrialists nor IAS officers are "safe in Telangana".

In a post on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, KTR, as the former minister is popularly known, alleged that Rizvi took voluntary retirement "due to a dispute between the Chief Minister and the Minister over a Rs 500 crore tender".

"The Minister wrote to the Chief Secretary, requesting that Rizvi's voluntary retirement not be granted and that an investigation be initiated against him for misconduct... Mafia rule prevails in the state. The BJP government should intervene and order an investigation by a sitting judge, so that the truth comes out," he added in his post. 

Rizvi's VRS -- which had sparked speculation across bureaucratic and political circles -- has already been accepted by the government.

Read: IAS Officer vs Minister Over Liquor Hologram Tender In Telangana

Rizvi has not disclosed the reasons behind his decision. But sources suggested that there have been differences between him and Excise Minister Jupally Krishna Rao over a pending tender for a hologram meant for liquor bottles. Rizvi also hold the post of the Excise Secretary.  

A letter from the minister to Chief Secretary K Rama Krishna Rao has surfaced, in which he has apparently accused Rizvi of deliberately stalling the tender process for the Rs 100 crore project. The minister has also alleged that the official has allowed an old vendor, whose contract expired in June 2019, to continue supplying holograms for over six years.

In his letter, the minister has also apparently advised the government to reject Rizvi's VRS request and initiate legal and disciplinary proceedings against him.

A 2001-batch IAS officer known for his administrative efficiency, Rizvi was transferred four times in the two years of Congress rule in the state.