TS health director Srinivas Rao decides to enter politics; Congress complains to Governor

Hyderabad: The director of health of Telangana, G Srinivas Rao, was once again in the news for publicly announcing that he would be contesting in the coming Assembly elections on Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) ticket. In a meeting with the GSR Trust on Sunday, he had announced that he will be contesting in the coming Assembly elections on a BRS ticket.

A month prior too Srinivas Rao had expressed his desire to contest from the Kothagudem constituency and was also seen actively engaging with the voters there, undertaking service programs.

Srinivas Rao’s announcement has not sat well with many politicians who are finding a government employee showing affiliation to a party disrespectful.

On Monday, in a letter to the governor of Telangana, Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan, vice-president of Telangana PCC Chamala Kiran Kumar Reddy, said that Srinivas Rao, in a meeting with the GSR Trust on Sunday, had again openly announced that he will be contesting in the coming Assembly elections on a BRS ticket.

“A government employee in an important position cannot get affiliated with a political party. That is misconduct. He has been repeatedly announcing the same in public gatherings. We request you to take action against Srinivas Rao,” said the Congress Party leader in the letter.

A month ago, Srinivasa Rao hinted about his plans to leave the job and join politics. “If chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao asks me to contest Assembly elections from Kothagudem, I am ready to obey. I will develop this constituency and take it to the next level,” Srinivasa Rao had said.

Mixing healthcare and religion

Earlier too, Srinivas Rao was in the news for making controversial statements that others have called ‘unscientific’ and ‘lacks faith in modern medicine’.

In another incident during Christmas celebrations at Bhadradri Kothagudem town, Srinivas Rao in a public event stated that 'people would defeat Covid-19, not through hard work, but from the blessings and kindness of the Lord Jesus Christ.’ In April 2023, the Forum for Good Governance sent a complaint to the Telangana chief secretary against Srinivasa Rao. The NGO said that ‘he (Srinivasa Rao) is unfit for the position he has due to his unscientific views about medicine.’

However, Rao later issued a clarification stating that the claim is fake. He posted a video of the event on Twitter as proof and said he had never insulted any religion. He said he credited religious communities for their prayers but only the portion where he mentioned Jesus went viral.

In another incident in April, during an Iftar, Srinivas Rao stated that in his childhood he had suffered an injury for which he was taken to a hospital. He claimed that the doctors there said that ‘only God would help him’, which prompted his grandfather to take him to a masjid and get a tayathu (holy thread) for him.

In November, a video of Srinivas touching the feet of CM KCR went viral after the launch of eight new medical colleges. The BJP leaders found fault with the behaviour, saying that such acts are means to get a BRS ticket.

The Healthcare Reforms Doctors Association (HRDA) had tweeted, "What more we can expect from in-charge administrators who are illegally continuing in those posts? It's now confirmed it will be our foolishness to expect any works related to public health from these in-charge administrators."