Swamis backstage mediators in Kurien-Reddy row

Morari Bapu may have played mediator between the Ambani brothers, but guess who’s come forward to end the five-month-long tussle at the...

Morari Bapu may have played mediator between the Ambani brothers, but guess who’s come forward to end the five-month-long tussle at the Institute of Rural Management, Anand — priests of the Swaminarayan sect.

While the court battle between IRMA chairman Verghese Kurien and its director K. Prathap Reddy continues, sources said the head of Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purshottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, Pramukh Swami Maharaj, is taking personal interest in the matter. He asked Kothari Swami, who heads the organisation in Anand district, to arrange meetings between Kurien and Reddy and requested them to settle their differences outside court. Kothari Swami has reportedly discussed the matter with Reddy and enquired if they could facilitate a meeting between the two. A meeting was held between them at Kurien’s residence on September 13.

Sources said the two briefly discussed their differences for more than 10 minutes. Though the meeting was arranged by the organisation, neither the priests attended the meeting nor did they allow the faculty or Kurien’s close aides to attend. ‘‘Yes, I met Kurien and briefly discussed the issues in the meeting arranged by Swaminarayan priests,’’ Reddy said.

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Kurien, on the other hand, addressed a press conference after the meet and admitted that he made a mistake in choosing his protege Amrita Patel as the National Dairy Development Board chairman as she was trying to corporatise the cooperative movement. But he refused to speak on the sacking of Reddy.

Kurien had sacked Reddy from the post of IRMA director. Reddy moved the high court, challenging Kurien’s decision and the single bench of the high court reinstated him just a day before his retirement. Kurien challenged this order before a division bench, stating that he had already handed over the relieving letter to Reddy.

Nizamuddin went to the US in December 2015 for a Master’s course in Computer Science, which he completed from Florida Institute of Technology in 2017. He completed his B.Tech in ECE from Jayaprakash Narayan College of Engineering, Mahbubnagar.

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