Kiran all set to float a new party in Jan

Hyderabad: Political circles are abuzz that Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, who is being projected as the `Star Batsman' who would not leave any stone unturned to keep the state united, is gearing up to launch a new party sometime during end of January or early February along with the MPs who had moved no confidence motion against the government in the Lok Sabha and some MLAs from Seemandhra region.

It is said that the Chief Minister's camp had conducted a secret survey two months ago on the popularity of the Congress in the light of division and his own popularity following the strident stand he had adopted in regard to the bifurcation of the state and had been openly defying the high command.

The survey also included a question on the Chief Minister launching a new political party to keep the Samaikyandhra votes intact. Though the results of the survey are not known yet, it is said that the survey received negative response from cross section of the people at that point of time.

However, things have changed fast after the six MPs Lagadapati Rajagopal, Sabbam Hari, V Arun Kumar, G Harsha Kumar and Rayapati Sambasiva Rao gave a notice for a No-Confidence motion in the Lok Sabha against the UPA government.

It is said that the Congress party may deny ticket in the 2014 elections to these six MPs. Though it is not clear if Arun Kumar will join the new party or not, Ministers like S Sailajanath, T G Venkatesh, Erasu Pratap Reddy, G Parthasarthy, Ganta Srinivasa Rao, Pithani Satyanaryana, and MLAs Malladi Vishnu and T Srinivas are among those who are likely to go with Kiran.

The Vijayawada MP, Lagadapati Rajagopal, and his Guntur counterpart, Rayapati Sambasiva Rao, have openly declared in the past that a new political party would enter the 2014 elections to protect the State from being divided.

While Rajagopal declared that he would take political sanyas if the State was divided, Sambasiva Rao said that he was expecting a new political party to accommodate the Samaikyandhra protagonists.

It is said that they are considering taking over one of the three political parties registered for Samaikyandhra. One G Srinivas had registered the name of Andhra Pradesh Rashtriya Samaikya Samithi Party, another person K Srinivas had registered, 'Samaikyandhra Parirakshana Samithi' (SPS) with Ameerpet in Hyderabad as headquarters.

The third party was registered in October by Dr Vishwanath from Vijayawada. The name of this party is Samaikyandhra Rashtra Samithi.

Vishwanath told that he would welcome either Rajagopal or Kiran Kumar Reddy to lead his party with a sole concept of keeping the state united. 'I am trying my best to take the party to the people from January and would welcome if Rajagopal joins,' he said.

It may be mentioned here that when Y S Jaganmohan Reddy left the Congress, he had taken over a party that was already registered as Yuvajana Sramika Raithu Congress Party by a person from Nalgonda district. In a similar manner Kiran too might take over one of these three registered parties, sources add.

There is another section that feels that this could be part of the game plan of the Congress high command to ensure that it saves at least some of its vote bank in the Seemandhra region.

So far only YSRCP is known as a party that is fighting to keep the state united. If Kiran quits Congress and floats his own party, it could cut into the YSRCP vote bank and politically it might help the Congress after the 2014 elections.