Two independent sources in the war room confirmed the development and said that Mr. Surya had apologised, though his office put out a tweet claiming that the apology was “fake news”. However, according to sources in the south zone room, Mr. Surya said it had not been his intention to tarnish them or affect work, but was only trying to do good to citizens. Repeated calls to Mr. Surya and his office did not elicit a response. Mr. Surya had on Tuesday read out a list of 16 staffers, all Muslims, questioning their role, even as two MLAs — Satish Reddy and Ravi Subramanya — made communally loaded statements against them. On Thursday, the war room saw nearly 40% absenteeism, which affected emergency services.

Source: The Hindu May 07, 2021 06:42 UTC