Those who know the style of functioning of Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu say he does not allow any second rung leadership to grow in the party, since he is a very insecure politician.
Normally, Naidu does not consider anyone as No. 2 either in the party or in the government, though seniors like Yanamala Ramakrishnudu and K E Krishna Murthy consider themselves as next to Naidu.
Of late, there has been a talk that Naidu’s son Lokesh Babu is acting like a de facto chief minister, though he is neither an MLA nor an MLC nor does he have any other key position in the government.
However, there is a common feeling among most of the TDP MLAs is that there is indeed a No. 2 in the government, if not party and he is none other than Municipal Administration Minister P Narayana.
He is said to be virtually ruling the roost in the state cabinet and has the habit of poking his nose in every department, even it is that of seniors like Yanamala or KE.
Naidu has entrusted to him with key responsibility of building Amaravati and therefore, on the pretext of it, Narayana is trying to hijack powers of all the departments.
Officials of various other departments also are reporting to Narayana these days. Issues like land allotments to various companies in Amaravati, inviting investments from foreign companies and establishment of various institutions in the capital region are all being handled by Narayana.
“Virtually, he is acting like No. 2 in the cabinet and no other ministers dares question his authority,” an MLA said.
