For the last two days, Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has been holding a collectors’ conference to review a wide range of issues related to various departments and the implementation of government programmes across districts.
From morning till evening, Naidu sat through the conference for several hours, trying to understand ground-level problems in the implementation of schemes and the public perception of the government.
He also provided directions to district collectors on administrative matters and development priorities.
However, the meeting drew attention due to the absence of Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan.
Though IT and Industries Minister Nara Lokesh was also absent, it did not attract much attention as a few other ministers were also not present, given that it was primarily a high-level administrative meeting.
But Pawan Kalyan’s absence became a talking point. While the official reason for his absence was not clarified, speculation emerged that he might have been engaged in work related to his upcoming film “Ustaad Bhagat Singh.”
Even before the conference began, the film’s production team had released photographs showing Pawan Kalyan dubbing for the movie, leading to speculation that his film commitments might have kept him away from the important government meeting.
This is not the first time the Deputy Chief Minister has stayed away from key official engagements. On earlier occasions, he had missed Cabinet meetings and even Assembly sessions.
In some cases, the absence was attributed to health reasons, while in others no explanation was publicly offered.
In fact, Pawan Kalyan’s absence was particularly noticeable during the review of issues related to the forest department, which comes under his portfolio, on the second day of the conference.
In his absence, Naidu expressed displeasure over the functioning of forest department officials and directed them to adopt a more people-friendly approach.
During the meeting, the Chief Minister also referred to complaints received about the department’s functioning in recent months.
However, Naidu was careful not to put Pawan Kalyan in a difficult position.
He said he had already discussed the matter with the Deputy Chief Minister and would speak to him again regarding the issues.
Naidu remarked that the forest department had yet to make significant progress in becoming more people-friendly and noted that the government had been receiving an unusually high number of complaints about the department.
Meanwhile, Lokesh reportedly sought Naidu’s permission to skip the collectors’ meeting due to other engagements.
On Wednesday, he attended a dinner hosted in Delhi at the residence of Union Minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu, besides participating in other official engagements in the national capital.
On Thursday, Lokesh was in Visakhapatnam, where he met the global CEO of Capgemini and other representatives to discuss investment opportunities in Andhra Pradesh.
Later that evening, he laid the foundation stone for the Sagar Defence Engineering industry project at Juvvaladinne in Nellore district.