PCC team works out truce, Jupalli puts off paday

HYDERABAD:  The two warring ministers, Jupalli Krishna Rao (endowments) and DK Aruna (information & public relations), have calmed down thanks to the intervention of the state Congress leadership.The two leaders, hailing from the same district of Mahaboobnagar, are locked in a turf war. Krishna Rao, who represents Kollapaur, has undertaken a district-wide padaytara demanding creation of a Telangana state. As his padayatra was set to enter the Gadwal constituency being represented by Aruna, she objected. Her logic was that she had not been consulted and no other MLA should conduct programmes in her are domain wthout her knowledge or permission.As the two ministers and their armies of followers came face to face at Aiza on Saturday, the two ministers were arrested. While Aruna was released on production of personal surety, Krishna Rao stayed put in the Pebbair police station refusing to seek bail until the chief minister intervened and allowed him to proceed with the padayatra.With the two leaders sticking to their guns, PCC chief D Srinivas called them up on phone and tried to make them shed their intransigence but with little success. He then dispatched a two-member team to talk with them personally and make them realise that if they continued to feud, the TRS would turn the situation to its advantage. After painstaking talks with both the leaders, the team of Pitla Krishna and Nagabhushanam Goud managed to convince Krishna Rao to seek bail annd also defer his yatra by four days.Former Kodangal legislator Gurunatha Reddy will further mediate between the two ministers and ensure camaraderie between the two. Krishna Rao announced later that he was postponing his padayatra by four days and wanted Aruna to come out with a programme of action for bringing pressure on the Centre for creation of Telangana state. If she had such a plan, he had no reservation of working with her. If she did not have any such plan, he would resume his padayatra from the fifth day, he said.Krishna Rao maintained that he had no intention of extending his influence to Gadwal or for that matter the district by undertaking the padayatra. It was intended solely to press the demand for formation of a separate state, he clarified.