VISAKHAPATNAM: The heartache over one restricting the other in discharging their duties and the other allegedly not giving due amount of respect, as claimed by the top district officials and TDP MLAs respectively, seems to have been cured following day-long discussions between both parties in the city here Wednesday. TDP MLAs sued for peace by taking a U turn and claiming that they did not have any complaints against any official.
According to highly placed sources, TDP supremo and Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu directed Municipal Administration and Urban Development minister P Narayana to play peacekeeper and settle the matters without causing any further damage.
The sources said that Narayana, along with his ministerial colleague Ganta Srinivasa Rao, talked things over with the MLAs and pacified them. With the media having highlighted the issue, a message had gone out that TDP MLAs were demanding unlawful things from the officials, the ministers said, and added that the incident had gone to the notice of the CM and Home minister, prompting them to tell the MLAs to bury the hatchet.
It is worth mentioning here that following the MLAs’ complaint to the Chief Minister, the district officials have reacted with indignation.
And as the issue became sensitive, the TD leaders, in order to prevent it from spreading to other districts, reportedly asked the disgruntled MLAs to announce that there had been no complaint in the first place.
Further, in a balancing act, the ministers directed the district officials as well to have better ‘co-ordination’ with the MLAs. Both the ministers also assured the officials that such things would not happen again.
Later in the day, Anakapalle MP M Srinivasa Rao, MLAs Vasupalli Ganesh Kumar (Vizag South), PVGR Naidu (Vizag West), Velagapudi Ramakrishna Babu (Vizag East), Bandaru Satyanarayana Murthy (Pendurty), Palla Srinivasa Rao (Gajuwaka) Panchakarla Rameshbabu (Yelamanchili), KSN Raju (Chodavaram) and Vangalapudi Anitha (Payakaraopeta) jointly called a news conference in the city and said that no MLA had lodged any complaint with the Chief Minister against the officials.
“We met the Chief Minister and the Home minister only to discuss development works. As there are several rumours going round, we wish to put to an end to any controversies, and announce that we have no differences with the officials,” the MLAs said.
Later, in a free-wheeling chat, one of the MLAs said that as a part of patch-up measures, they have taken a step backward following the directions from the top brass.
“It is true that every MLA has some grievances with the top police officers, particularly three MLAs (representing from the rural constituencies) faced some troubles. But, we wish to bury the past,” one of the MLAs told Express.