Jaipal, Kiran still at logger heads

The stand-off between Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and Union Minister for Science and Technology S. Jaipal Reddy came to the fore when both of them skipped a felicitation programme organised by V Hanumantha Rao for Jaipal at Gandhi Bhavan recently.

The Chief Minister and the Union Minister are at loggerheads, became clear again with the latter staying away from the launch ceremony of the Hyderabad Metro Rail project today in Hyderabad.

The supporters of both leaders within the ruling Congress too are divided into two groups. It is learnt that Jaipal Reddy did not attended the function though he was in Hyderabad.

Sources said that Jaipal Reddy was unhappy over Kiran Kumar Reddy ignoring him and not being formally invited to the function. Supporters of Jaipal Reddy said that it was not right on the part of the CM to ignore him being well aware of the fact that as the minister for urban development he played a key role in getting necessary approvals for the mega project.

Sources say that Kiran Kumar Reddy purposely chose to target the Union minister because he felt it was Jaipal Reddy who had projected him as a ‘bad leader’ in the eyes of the Congress high command.

It may be recalled here that a few months ago there was a war of words between the leaders over the KG Basin issue and the gap between the two widened.
CMO quoted the CM as saying "Unfortunately, the Union minister who hails from this region has completely ignored the repeated requests for gas allocation."

Later, Jaipal Reddy’s ministry issued a clarification saying it was not possible to allocate gas to the non-existing power plants, since the existing power projects themselves are facing shortage of gas. The ministry even said Kiran Kumar Reddy feeling insecure about his position had made statements against the Union minister.

- Sakshipost