The Hindu : Squabbling in TDP to the fore again in Tirupati

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 01, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Squabbling in TDP to the fore again in Tirupati

By Our Special Correspondent

TIRUPATI. Jan. 31. After a respite, squabbling in the Telugu Desam Party in Tirupati came to the fore again on Saturday. The parties to the bickering are the former local MLA, Chadalavada Krishnamurthy, on one side and the municipal chairperson, K. Sankar Reddy, on the other. Though the District Minister, B.Gopalakrishna Reddy, with whom the former MLA has a good equation, was also believed to be a party to it, he stayed behind the scene. An episode that happened on Saturday clearly indicated that the bickering between the two, if not three, was far from over. What sparked the latest controversy was a programme organised on Saturday by the Tirupati Municipality to ground the Rs.3-crore cement roads project reportedly sanctioned to it under the `Challenging Municipalities' scheme.

It was said that the programme in which the District Minister, the former MLA and the chairperson of the Tirupati Urban Development Authority, N. V. Prasad, participated was planned allegedly without the knowledge of the municipal chairperson. He said he had, however, attended the programme briefly `in the interest of the party' but returned to the office to preside over the Municipal Council meeting which was also scheduled around the same time.

The council meeting witnessed chaos and confusion with ward councillors, cutting across party lines, taking exception to the commissioner and other senior officials not being present at the council meeting but preferring to attend the programme in which the Minister and the former MLA participated.

At the request of the chairman who made a desperate attempt to pacify the furious members, the municipal engineer and the town planning officer later joined the council meeting. But this could not satisfy the councillors who insisted that the commissioner be present and questioned the propriety of the absence of officials when the council meeting was held.

The councillors walked out of the meeting en masse forcing Mr. Sankar Reddy to close the meeting as `postponed'. In a statement later, he made no secret of his displeasure over the `unhelpful attitude' of senior municipal officials in his endeavour to develop the town as envisioned by the Chief Minister.

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