HRD Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao, who is also district in-charge Minister, skipped the TDP mini-Mahandu here on Thursday, and his differences with former Union Minister P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju is said to be the reason.
It is no secret that Mr. Rao and Mr. Raju have not met since the past few months. Despite being the in-charge Minister, Mr. Rao hardly attended party meetings, barring a few review meets held in Mr. Raju’s bungalow last year. He also skipped many meetings, including the swearing-in of the district president Mahanti Chinnam Naidu.
As per convention, the in-charge Minister is supposed to ensure coordination among the party leaders and speed up the developmental activities by holding regular parleys with the officials.
Internal bickering
Sources say Mr. Rao gave the mini-Mahanadu a miss as Mr. Raju controls the party affairs in the district and Mr. Srinivasa Rao who played a key role in selection of Mahanti Chinnam Naidu as the TDP district president is not allowed to interfere in the party affairs.
Interestingly, Minister for Mines and Bobbili MLA Sujay Krishna Ranga Rao is maintaining cordial relations with Mr. Raju despite having differences with the latter when he was with the YSRCP.
CM’s intervention sought
“ Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu should take up the issue immediately to sort out the differences between the two leaders. Else, it may hamper the party’s prospects in the 2019 elections,” says a TDP senior leader.
At the mini-Mahanadu, Mr. Raju said the BJP would be taught a good lesson in the next elections as it had failed to grant SCS to the State. He also dared the YSRCP MPs to resign if they were sincere over the issue.
Mr. Sujay Krishna Ranga Rao, MLAs Kolla Lalita Kumari, Meesala Geeta, Zilla Parishad CEO Sobha Swati Rani hoped that the party would get an absolute majority in the next elections.
