ELUR: Congress MP from Narsapur Chegondi Harirama Jogaiah and Narsapur MLA Kothapalli Subbaraidu of TDP were at it again displaying their `guru-sishya' relationship cutting across their party line at a meeting of the district review committee here on Saturday.

Mr. Jogaiah amusingly joined chorus with his `sishya' Mr. Subbaraidu at the beginning of his address in targeting the Government on its alleged mishandling of flood situation in the district. The TDP MLA found empathy in his mentor when he had been singled out by the ruling party members in his attack on the Government.

Incidentally it was Mr. Jogaiah who groomed Mr. Subbaraidu as a seasoned leader during his stint in the Telugu Desam Party. Mr. Subbaraidu criticised that the administration had lacked foresight in mitigating the impact of the disaster.

Noisy scenes

In retaliation, he was targeted by ruling party MLAs -- Vatti Vasantha Kumar, Kottu Satyanarayana and Cherukuri Sriranganatha Raju -- leading to a noisy clash that marred the proceedings for well over an hour. When Mr. Subbaraidu seemingly felt isolated, Mr. Jogaiah came to his rescue by endorsing his feelings on the Government's alleged failure in flood management.

There was virtually no patrolling on the bunds of the Godavari and even sand bags with the personnel concerned to pre-empt breaches to the bunds, he said. "Had the river bunds suffered breaches, a major disaster would have struck the district killing several people and damaging vast extent of properties," Mr. Jogaiah observed.

Officials under fire

He further went on records by saying that there was no coordination between revenue and irrigation departments at the time of the floods. Demanding punitive action against the officials found guilty of dereliction of duties, he wanted the Government to recover the flood-related losses from them for their `indifference' in critical period.

Mr.Vasantha Kumar, a ruling party MLA from Unguturu, however, moved a resolution in appreciation of the district administration for its `services' in flood management.

The resolution was passed by the DRC regardless the critical observations made by the ruling party MP.

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