With the D-day for referring the Telangana Bill to the State Assembly approaching fast, the Congress high command and Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy seem to be taking their purported hide and seek to a climax.
If Kiran touched a raw nerve by shooting missives to President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, questioning the party’s ‘undue haste’ to divide the State, the AICC has started taking steps to isolate him in its bid to show him the door.
The AICC leadership, which has succeeded in weaning away his one-time close associates such as ministers Kondru Murali Mohan and P Bala Raju, has reportedly decided to lure back his remaining lieutenants before sending the T-Bill to the Assembly either in the third or last week of November.
AICC State affairs incharge Digvijaya Singh is said to be on this mission. “The CM’s latest salvo has further annoyed the high co-mmand. They are exploring options on how to tackle him,” a senior Congress leader, who was in Delhi a couple of days ago, told Express.
The party high command has succeeded in poaching almost 12 Seemandhra ministers along with several MLAs from the Chief Minister’s camp. The recent meeting held by Finance Minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy with these ministers against Kiran’s bellicose statements on the AICC leadership proves this. Following the Governor’s three-day Delhi visit and his hectic parleys at the Centre, speculation is rife on the possibility of change of guard in the State. The talk in Congress circles is that the AICC leadership is shortlisting names of Union Minister Kavuri Sambasiva Rao, ministers Kanna Lakshminarayana and N Raghuveera Reddy in case it has to replace Kiran. The Governor held a one-on-one with Kavuri whereas Raghuveera and Kanna undertook Delhi trips in the past three days to brief the AICC top brass on the situation in the state.
Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy reviewed the situation with Chief Secretary PK Mohanty and other officials at a review meeting and directed them to distribute 10 kg rice and 2 litres of kerosene to each family in rain and flood-affected areas.
Further, he announced enhancement of financial assistance for clothing and utensils to the flood victims to Rs 5,000 from Rs 3000. Officials were also directed to take the help of the army and air force, wherever necessary.
Officials were directed to step up efforts to enumerate accurately all the losses by constituting special teams to help farmers and victims.
The Chief Secretary informed that additional teams of National Disaster Response Force from Odisha and Tamil Nadu were arriving and 19 teams consisting of 760 personnel were already on the ground for rescue and relief operations along with police, fire and emergency, revenue, agriculture, and other officials. 10 NDRF teams have been rushed to Srikakulam district in view of the flood threat from Vamsadhara and Nagavali rivers.
The Chief Minister will conduct an aerial survey and visit rain-affected areas in Prakasam, Guntur and Krishna districts on Monday morning.