The split in the state cabinet, created following the dismissal of DL Ravindra Reddy from ministerial post, seems to have started echoing in the national capital with top leaders of the camps of the chief minister and his detractors positioning themselves before their Delhi bosses.
Days after Ravindra Reddy was sacked from the cabinet, a flurry of political activity was witnessed in Delhi on the Andhra Pradesh front on Wednesday with heavyweights of the state Congress making a beeline for the audience of their party top brass.
If N Kiran Kumar Reddy had a two-hour-long meeting with AICC state affairs in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad, Union minister K Chiranjeevi confabulated with his party boss Sonia Gandhi for over half an hour on the same day.
Kiran, who was in Delhi on Wednesday to take part in the national conference on internal security addressed by prime minister Manmohan Singh, called on the AICC point man and is understood to have apprised him of the prevailing political situation in the state after the dismissal of Ravindra Reddy.
The chief minister is understood to have complained against some of his detractors to Azad, saying that some ministers had become a pain in the neck for him with their persistent criticism of the government schemes. He is also learnt to have finalised the party candidates for the four MLC seats, which are to be nominated by the governor, during the meeting with Azad. He sought the nod of the high command to overhaul the cabinet after the second spell of the budget session of the Assembly scheduled to commence on June 10.
On the other hand, during his meeting with AICC supremo, Chiranjeevi is understood to have fully defended his aide and endowments minister C Ramachandraiah, who is said to be next in the line to face the axe for his repeated criticism of Kiran Reddy.
As Chiranjeevi is seen as one of the leaders of the anti-Kiran Reddy’s detractors camp, some of the Congress leaders feel that he might use the occasion to complain against the style of functioning of the chief minister to his party supremo.
Meanwhile, PCC chief Botcha Satyanarayana, panchayat raj minister K Jana Reddy and former minister Mohammed Ali Shabbir, who have been camping in Delhi for the past three days, also met some of the AICC functionaries on Wednesday and aired their views on the sacking of Ravindra Reddy.
Meanwhile, deputy chief minister C Damodara Rajanarasimha left for Delhi in the evening. Congress leaders think he will persuade the high command to pacify Ravindra Reddy and stop him from quitting the Congress.
Interestingly, Ravindra Reddy himsself said in Mydukur: “Some senior ministers went to Delhi to defend my argument and explain about the injustice meted out to me by the chief minister.”
Botcha Pained by Developments
Disapproving of the dismissal of Ravindra Reddy from the cabinet, the PCC chief said it was a painful incident. “This development has pained me a lot. I believe no other minister will be sacked,” Botcha said in Delhi. He said he had requested party supremo Sonia Gandhi and vice- president Rahul Gandhi to tour the state.
“It has been three years since Sonia Gandhi visited the state. I am planning to hold public meetings across the state which will be addressed by the party supremo,” he said.
