N Chandrababu Naidu likely to replace Puttaparthi civic chief

Anantapur: Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has decided that he would like to appoint B. Chalapathi as the Puttaparthi municipal chairman but the incumbent, Mr P.C. Ganganna, isn’t ready to vacate the post. The TD high command has assigned to district committee the task of convincing him to quit. Mr Ganganna allegedly abused M. Shivarami Reddy, the DSP of Puttaparthi, and other police officials for denying him entry into airport during the CM’s visit to the district. The civic chief also staged a protest against the police for obeying directions of local MLA Palle Raghunath Reddy. He then absconded for a few days.

The Puttaparthi police registered a case against Mr Ganganna for abusing police officials on duty. He surrendered to the police on Monday evening and granted bail at the Puttaparthi police station. Sources say that Mr Ganganna had filed a proposal with the district committee, suggesting that the vice-chairman, single window president, and other officials be replaced to accommodate new officers for the rest of the tenure.

The civic chief says that there had been no proposal put forth at the time of elections for sharing of the municipal chairman's tenure. He plans to meet with the Chief Minister to discuss recent political disturbances. “The MLA laid foundations in the municipality without notifying me. But the party served show-cause notices to me for pointing out the injustice”, he says. He says that he will only arrive at a decision after after meeting the Chief Minister.