Andhra Pradesh irrigation minister Devineni Umamaheshwar Rao is generally considered to be the most efficient minister in the Chandrababu Naidu cabinet. While he strongly defends the irrigation rights of Andhra Pradesh, he also has the capability of rebutting the allegations of the opposition effectively.
However, of late, Uma seems to have fallen out from the good books of Naidu. According to inputs being received by the chief minister, Devineni’s mishandling of the portfolio has led to the controversies in Polavaram, Vamsadhara and other projects. Because of Devineni’s lack of initiative, there was a lot of violence at the Vamsadhara project due to agitation by evacuees and Naidu had to make a public apology.
The chief minister is said to have pulled up Devineni for his slackness. Naidu was also said to be unhappy with the delay in implementation of compensation and rehabilitation package for Pulichinthala displaced people. Moreover, he was discontent with the negative publicity being carried out by the opposition making severe corrupt allegations in the irrigation sector.
If the reports are to be believed, Naidu might change Devineni’s portfolio in the next reshuffle of the cabinet.
