Chandrababu Naidu turns staff friendly

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has changed his style of functioning. Tough with government employees when he was CM previously, he is now rather friendly towards them, but has gone tough with his Cabinet colleagues. He has warned the ministers that if they don’t work hard, they will be removed.

After his defeat in the 2004 general election, Mr Naidu concluded that one of the reasons for the TD debacle was his attitude towards government employees. He has expressed his regret about this openly many times during party review meetings.

After the bifurcation, the role of government employees in the development of the new Andhra Pradesh will be crucial.

Mr Naidu has already signalled his desire to keep the bureaucrats in good mood by signing a file approving the increase in retirement age of government employees by two years. This was an unexpected move.

Ministers have been rather more sternly dealt with. Mr Naidu has conducted one-on-one meetings with his ministers and apart from guiding them in their work, he has warned them that he will review the performance of every minister after three months. If found unsatisfactory, they will be given their marching orders.

He particularly asked them to set aside personal differences. In Visakhapatnam district, Mr Ayyanna Patrudu and Mr Ganta Srinivasa Rao are known to be on less than cordial terms. Mr Naidu called both ministers on Tuesday and ordered them to work together amicably. He also told them to take into confidence all the party leaders in the district. They both promised to do as asked. Mr Naidu also reportedly asked the ministers during his interaction with them if they were satisfied with their portfolios and they all said they are ready to work in whatever portfolio was allotted to them.

Minister Bojjala Gopala Krishna Reddy told the media that Mr Naidu has taken up the exercise to reduce the present 60 portfolios to 22, in order to reduce the financial burden on the government. He said that the Assembly session will be convened from June 19. He also said the government will take a decision to recover the illegal assets held by some people.