Ganta ‘agenda’ rattles Balaraju

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, July 23, 2012: Dissent is certainly brewing in the ranks of the Congress in Visakhap-atnam.

Infrastructure minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao’s review of the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) on Saturday despite objections reportedly raised by tribal welfare minister P. Balaraju has raised the curtains on a power struggle between the two ministers over the city's affairs.

Congress activists are said to be unhappy at the way Mr Rao, who belongs to the erstwhile Praja Rajyam, was going ahead with his ‘hidden’ agenda to gain control over the Congress in the district and also over the district officials.

Though Mr Rao had said on an earlier occasion that he had no differences with any minister from the district, Mr Balaraju, Congress activists and leaders are not in a mood to buy his opinion.

“It's a clear indication that Mr Rao is trying to make his mark on the district and get a grip on the party's affairs in Vizag, doing it the name of review meetings. How can we accept someone who worked for the Telugu Desam, an anti-Congress party, and became a Congr-essman after the merger with the PR,” said a Congress leader who wanted to remain anonymous.

Adding fuel to the fire, it is learnt that Pendurthy MLA Panchakarla Ramesh Babu, who won his seat on a PR ticket and is a known close aide of Mr Rao, was finalised for the DCC president's post which did not go down well with Mr Balaraju.

The minister, who has been with the party since long, is said to have openly expressed his dissent about Saturday's review meeting being conducted despite his absence.

He was resting in Hyderabad due to a leg injury. It is reliably learnt that Mr Balaraju asked Mr Rao to postpone the review meeting until he returned to the city in a few days. However, Mr Rao went ahead with the Saturday meeting.