Hyderabad: The alleged over enthusiasm of Andhra Pradesh mining minister Peethala Sujatha has landed her and her Cabinet colleague Siddha Raghava Rao in trouble with AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
Mr Naidu reportedly gave the two a dressing down after Ms Sujatha was recently felicitated with a piece of jewellery worth a whopping Rs 37 lakh by a miners’ lobby group. Interestingly, the Granite Miners’ Association is headed by Mr Rao’s brother S. Venkateshwara Rao.
According to sources, the Granite Miners’ Association of Chimakurthy in Prakasam district recently felicitated Ms Sujatha. During the ceremony, they also presented her with a Rs 37 lakh gold waist belt.
In her enthusiasm, the minister opened the sealed present at the spot, but was surprised with the expensive gift. Some Telugu Desam workers clicked photographs of her with the jewellery and sent them to Mr Naidu and his son, Nara Lokesh. Later, Mr Naidu called both ministers and reprimanded them for the embarrassing act.
“As a minister you must discourage these kinds of things. This is will give a bad name to the party and also its leaders,” Mr Naidu told minister Mr Rao, who said that he was not aware of the issue.
The CM also reprimanded Ms Sujatha. She told him that the mining association had given her the gift in a sealed cover and she had not known what it contained. She said she came to know about the expensive gift only after she opened it at her house. Mr Naidu warned her not to indulge in such activities in the future.
Meanwhile, speaking to the media on Tuesday in West Godavari district, Ms Sujatha denied accepting any gold jewellery, though she did admit that the granite miners had felicitated her recently in Prakasam district.
