Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has sacked IYR Krishna Rao, chairman of Brahmin Welfare Corporation, offended by some of the posts he had shared on his Facebook page.

This is second time that ‘offensive’ posts in social media landed somebody in serious trouble in Andhra Pradesh. Earlier, a cartoonist Inturi Ravikiran was arrested over his posts and cartoons targeting Naidu and his son IT Minister Nara Lokesh.

The orders sacking Krishna Rao, a former Chief Secretary of the state, were issued on Tuesday after months-old FB posts shared by him went viral, which were brought to the chief minister’s notice.

Apparently, the trouble for Krishna Rao began when he criticised a Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader for defending Anantapur parliamentarian JC Diwakar Reddy in his spat with IndiGo airlines.

Recently the TDP MP was barred from flying by 7 domestic airlines for unruly behaviour. A TDP functionary in his Facebook post demanded VIPs should be given more time by airlines. Rao opposed the idea.

“I opposed him as there is a protocol and VIPs should not be exempted. I don’t know what wrong I have said. And that TDP functionary pulled out the old posts,” Rao said at a press conference in Amaravati after his sacking was announced.

Denying any wrongdoing, Rao said he came to know about his renewal on TV. “There was no need for all this. If they had called me I would have resigned”, he said.

In one of the posts earlier shared by him, Rao had criticised the arrest of the cartoonist Ravikiran.

Rao, who has been commenting on the happenings, said: “I felt bad over his arrest. I started thinking what kind of system we are living in. Are we fascist? I believe that it was wrong, so I just shared three or four posts in protest. Is that a criminal mistake? I shared those posts without comment, because I felt that we should not put criminal cases on satirists.”

In another instance he found fault with the TDP raising hue and cry over leader of opposition YS Jaganmohan Reddy meeting the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

As all these posts went viral prompting TDP supporters to go after him on the social media baying for his blood.