NEWSLINKS
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTION 99
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

AP's Mamta bashers shift attention to Union ministers from state

Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad

A disappointing Railway Budget and the growing apprehension that the Union Budget tomorrow might be no better, has suddenly focused the attention of every Andhraite on the performance of four ministers in the Union Ministry who hail from Andhra Pradesh.

While top leaders, including Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, were quick to criticise Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee for ignoring the state in her maiden budget on February 25, they have all since veered to the conclusion that the blame should actually rest with the four ministers of state who represent AP in Delhi.

The foursome - Bangaru Laxman, Ch Vidyasagar Rao, Satyanarayana Rao and Bandaru Dattatreya - are under increasing pressure to explain their failure to lobby effectively for the state with the Railway Ministry.

The railway budget spoke of introducing only two new trains to the state and was completely silent on new and pending projects.

The fact that all four ministers belong to the Bharatiya Janata Party, which heads the ruling National Democratic Alliance at the Centre and thus wields considerable clout in matters like rail budget, has made their position indefensible.

Both the Telugu Desam Party and the Congress have demanded to know to what exactly the four ministers have been up to in the past few months after being inducted into the Union ministry.

Not one of them has any convincing answers.

It is now becoming clear that either these ministers have been given insignificant ministries, or they have been assigned piecemeal roles in important departments.

Bangaru Laxman was initially given programme implementation and planning. But after expressing dissatisfaction for being assigned such an insignificant portfolio he was shifted to the railways to assist Mamta Banerjee.

Vidyasagar Rao is a minister of state in the Union Home Ministry and looks after freedom fighters' pensions and the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act.

Bandaru Dattatreya, a minister of state in the Urban Affairs and Employment Ministry, spends most of his time in Hyderabad attending opening ceremonies and felicitations. In fact he is often referred to as the 'Union Minister for Hyderabad-Secunderabad."

Satyanarayana Rao, who is a minister of state for agriculture, was not even able to plead the state's case for drought relief assistance.

Congress leaders point out that Andhra Pradesh had powerful cabinet rank ministers in successive governments at the Centre led by the Congress. When P V Narasimha Rao was the prime minister there were as many as seven ministers in his cabinet from Andhra Pradesh, including senior leaders such as Kotla Vijayabhaskar Reddy and G Venkatswamy.

Under the two United Front prime ministers - H D Deve Gowda and Inder Kumar Gujral - there were four and six ministers respectively from the state. Gujral's cabinet had three cabinet-rank ministers from Andhra Pradesh - K Yerran Naidu, Ummareddy Venkateswarlu and S Jaipal Reddy.

Some of the BJP MPs are now waiting for the next reshuffle of the Union cabinet so that one or two more can find berths and one or two of the incumbent ministers can get cabinet ranks.

The aspirants include famous actor and MP U V Krishnam Raju, senior leader and Medak MP Ale Narendra, NRI-turned-MP from Mahbubnagar A P Jitender Reddy and retired bureaucrat-turned-MP from Tirupathi N Venkatswamy.

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report