Minister for Human Resources Ganta Srinivasa Rao is upset with the latest political survey released by Andhra Jyothi group this week. The survey predicted the defeat of Ganta and a few others, while it held the Telugu Desam Party and Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu high, claiming their victory.
Irked at this survey, suspecting Chandrababu Naidu’s hand in it, Minister Ganta has been keeping away from the party leaders. He did not even attend the Cabinet meeting on June 19 and had planned to skip Chandrababu Naidu’s tour in Visakhapatnam on Thursday. A few hours before leaving for Visakhapatnam, Chandrababu Naidu had called up Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao and reportedly told him that he was not behind the survey. He had even asked the Minister not to take the survey seriously as such reports are common in the media.
“There are reports against me too. I am not an exception to this. You don’t have to take them seriously and get upset,” the Chief Minister reportedly told the Minister. The Chief Minister had also sent deputy chief minister Nimmakayala Chinarajappa to Ganta Srinivasa Rao’s residence in Visakhapatnam and to console him and bring him to the official programmes in Visakhapatnam.
Hours after Chandrababu Naidu’s call, Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao accompanied Chinarajappa to the airport to receive Chandrababu Naidu and join him in the official programmes. The Chief Minister had reportedly promised to discuss these issues in a one to one meeting in Visakhapatnam for which sulking Ganta Srinivasa Rao had agreed.
Meanwhile, several other legislators in the ruling party are upset over the results released by Andhra Jyothi, which had predicted their victory in the next elections. “While the survey had given 110 Assembly seats in the next election against 102 in the last election, it had predicted defeat of half a dozen sitting MLAs, including Ministers. If half a dozen sitting MLAs are defeated, how can the party win?,” is the big question that these leaders are posing to the media house and its chief Radha Krishna.
