The appointment of senior journalist and secretary general of Indian Journalists’ Union (IJU) Devulapalli Amar as advisor to Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government for national media and inter-state affairs on Thursday triggered uproar in the media circles in Andhra Pradesh.
Some senior journalists and editors from AP held a meeting in Vijayawada and expressed resentment over appointment of Amar as an advisor to AP government.
Their contention is that Amar hails from neighbouring state of Telangana and was a strong votary of Telangana movement.
“He played a big role in the movement for separate Telangana state and wrote hundreds of articles in various publications demanding bifurcation of combined state and formation of Telangana,” they said.
Appointing such an anti-Andhra journalist leader as advisor to the Jagan government is an insult to the journalists in AP and it had hurt the sentiments of Andhra people, they said.
“During the Telangana movement, Amar used to argue in favour of jobs for locals in his state. How can he seek a job in Andhra now? Ironically, the Telangana government itself has not given him any post or position despite his pro-Telangana stand,” they said.
The Andhra journalist leaders also pointed out that even Information and Public Relations Commissioner was from Telangana.
“We request the chief minister to rethink on the appointment of Amar as advisor on national media affairs,” they requested.
