Except for those who gave them their posts, does the Andhra Cricket Association (ACA) completely ignore those holding key positions in the government? In Andhra Pradesh, very few sports events actually take place, and even in those, the way the ACA is functioning — completely disregarding the state’s Sports Minister — has sparked strong criticism. Mandidipalli Ram Prasad Reddy from Kadapa district currently serves as the Minister for Sports in Andhra Pradesh. Recently, Andhra Pradesh’s young cricketer Sri Charan was part of the Indian women’s team that won the Women’s World Cup title. To felicitate her, the Andhra Cricket Association issued a full-page newspaper advertisement on Friday.In that ad, the photographs of ACA President Kesineni Shivanath and Secretary Sana Satheesh Babu were prominently displayed, along with pictures of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and IT Minister Nara Lokesh.
But what connection does IT Minister Nara Lokesh have with sports? According to TDP sources, it was mainly due to Nara Lokesh’s influence that Kesineni Shivanath and Sana Satheesh secured the posts of ACA President and Secretary. That’s why, in their full-page ad, they featured the photos of Chandrababu Naidu and Nara Lokesh, but completely omitted the Sports Minister’s photo. In recent times, government advertisements have been consistently including the photo of Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan, even if the matter is unrelated to his department. The government has been promoting both Nara Lokesh and Pawan Kalyan in every official release. However, in this case, both the concerned Sports Minister’s photo and Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan’s photo were left out, which has surprised even TDP circles. This has now triggered widespread criticism against the ACA’s approach.