Centre, Aandhta Pradesh government head for a clash

In a curious development, Union minister of tribal affairs and panchayati raj V Kishore Chandra Deo has shot off a letter to the governor of a Congress-ruled Andhra Pradesh asking him to act against the state government.

The move has raised eyebrows within the party as well as the Andhra Pradesh government because Kiran Kumar Reddy heads a state that has sent the maximum number of Congress MPs to the Lok Sabha and will prove to be a crucial state for the party in the next general elections.

The letter — a copy of which is available with DNA — blames Reddy’s government for the increasing extremist activities, misgovernance and the uncontrolled Bauxite mining in the Visakhapatnam region of the state.

The 14-page letter says that extremists have regrouped during the last five years —YS Rajasekhara Reddy was the chief minister till 2009 —by gaining sympathy of the locals due to threat of Bauxite mining.

The letter has asked the governor to cancel all bauxite licences issued by the state government and Memoranda of Understanding signed with mining companies between 2005 and 2010 in Visakhapatnam district of the state, which is also the home constituency of the central minister.