TD men tear into Urban planning minister P Narayana

The ministers were said to be peeved at his ‘continued interference’ in the affairs of other ministries on one pretext or the other. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had to come to Mr Narayana’s rescue at one point, and restrained other ministers from airing their views openly against Mr Narayana, sources said.

Mr Narayana has been looking after the affairs of capital construction and closely interacting with the Singapore and Japan governments. On that score, his word carries more weight in the Capital Region Development Authority and he supervised the entire land pooling exercise.

This has infuriated revenue minister and Deputy Chief Minister K.E.. Krishnamurthy apart from two of his Cabinet colleagues, P. Pulla Rao and Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao, who hail from the capital region, apart from the local MLAs. Some of them have reportedly expressed their displeasure to Mr Naidu over the increased importance given to Mr Narayana.

Mr Narayana was also made in-charge of the main Pushkaralu arrangements committee and the tragedy that occurred on Day 1 was described as his failure. He had gone to Japan and made trips to Singapore days before the start of the Pushkaralu and was blamed for “ignoring” the all important festival. Even on the first day of the Pushkaralu, he was with the CM and allegedly did not bother about the Pushkarlu arrangements, sources said.

But Mr Narayana’s camp refuted the allegations “He is suave, non-controversial and affable. He never supercedes anyone’s authority and he strictly confines himself to his brief and discharges his duties as per the directions of the CM. Some of the ministers, who wanted an upper hand in the capital region, have been spreading canards and maligning him,” one of his close aides told Deccan Chronicle.

The strike by municipal sanitary staff has come in handy for his detractors to express their ire over Mr Narayana. “How can a person who cannot properly look after his own department (municipal affairs) manage the affairs of other ministries,” a minister asked before a group of journalists.

When the issue of the strike cropped up for discussion in the Cabinet meeting, several ministers voiced concern and are said to have complained to Mr Naidu that they could not show their faces to people as the stink has spread over entire towns. But Mr Naidu defended Mr Narayana fully and said he is doing overtime for the welfare of the state.