The rivalry between Education Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao and Panchayat Raj Minister Ch. Ayyanna Patrudu was evident at the first Cabinet meeting which was held in EC conference hall of Andhra University in Visakhapatnam on Thursday.
Both the ministers were at their best on one-upmanship. From the very word go by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu that the Cabinet meeting would be held at Visakhapatnam, both were trying to project that they were responsible for influencing Mr. Naidu to have it in Visakhapatnam.
But it was punctured by the Chief Minister when he stated that the ‘City of Destiny’ was in his mind and he had a special liking for the city for its natural splendour.
Ever since, the Chief Minister landed in Visakhapatnam on Thursday morning, both the Ministers were seen flanking him on either side and one competing with the other, to gain Mr. Naidu’s attention.
The Education Minister is known for his inherent PR skills and he did the same when Kiran Kumar Reddy was the Chief Minister, and he succeeded in stealing the show over the then Tribal Welfare Minister P. Balaraju and other Congress MLAs, when Mr. Kiran Reddy toured the district in December 2012. Though both publicly claimed that there was no rivalry, and Mr. Naidu had asked them to bury the hatchet, the rivalry was evident even in the flexies that adorned the city on the occasion of the Cabinet meeting. Each competed with the each other, both in size of the flexies and space.
The rivalry did bring cheer to the flexi makers, as they made hay while they competed.
