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Ganta, Ayyanna wash dirty linen in public
The Ganta-Ayyanna turf war in Visakhapatnam has taken an ugly turn in the wake of a two-page letter of HRD Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao mailed to Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu targeting his internal rival and Roads and Buildings Minister Ch Ayyannapatrudu on the infamous land scam.
​Visakhapatnam: The Ganta-Ayyanna turf war in Visakhapatnam has taken an ugly turn in the wake of a two-page letter of HRD Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao mailed to Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu targeting his internal rival and Roads and Buildings Minister Ch Ayyannapatrudu on the infamous land scam.
The Ganta’s letter which was widely circulated through the social media groups accused Ayyanna of damaging the image of CM Naidu and the government as well with his outbursts. The HRD minister in the letter dated June 9 also urged the CM to make way for an inquiry either by a CBI or a sitting judge to bring out truth relating to the so-called multi-crore land scam.
Chandrababu, however, ordered an inquiry by Special Investigation Team (SIT) three days after the mailing of Ganta’s letter. The R&B minister at the launching programme of Nava Nirmana Deeksha on June 2 targeted Ganta without naming him, saying land sharks from outside were grabbing lands and looting resources extensively in Visakhapatnam district with their `political god gathers.’ The in-house criticism by Ayyanna obviously provided ammunition to the opposition parties and even the BJP to train guns on the government.
YSRCP leader Botsa Satyanarayana, BJP former union minister Daggubati Purandhareswari and BJP floor leader Vishnukumar Raju joined the issue cutting across the political barriers to demand for a CBI inquiry.
As a matter of fact, skeletons began tumbling out of the cub board after Ayyannapatrudu blew the whistle, saying an extent of 500 acres of government and even private lands from 10 mandals in the district worth over Rs 1000cr changed hands by way of tampering records.
Close on the heels, the Collector Praveen Kumar said illegal land deals were found to have taken place in around 200 cases in an inquiry even as Bheemili. Visakhapatnam rural MROs were trapped by ACB while indulging in tampering of land records.
It’s somewhat loyalist-defector rivalry between Ganta and Ayyannapatrudu. Ayyanna is a diehard TDP loyalist working since its inception. Ganta Srinivasa Rao has earned the sobriquet as a turncoat by changing parties from the Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) and the Congress to the TDP before the 2014 elections.
Ayyanna failed to stall the admission of Ganta and a group of his followers in spite of hectic lobbying with the party top brass in those days. Ganta began dominating the show in the district soon after he became a part of Naidu’s coterie in the government.
It becomes embarrassment for the government even as its senior ministers are washing their dirty linen in public. The CM’s piece mission seemingly failed to cut much ice with the warlords.
By: VKL Gayatri
