Party time for Kiran Reddy
HYDERABAD: Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, considered the star batsman of Congress Seemandhra camp, appears to be losing the confidence of party legislators from the region with each passing day.
His much-hyped 'weekend brainstorming' at his camp office here Sunday ended as a damp squib with just 35 party lawmakers from Seemandhra ' including seven ministers ' taking the trouble to attend it.
Besides PCC chief Botcha Satyanarayana and Kiran's detractor Dokka Manikya Vara Prasada Rao, many of his Cabinet colleagues and MLAs, who are still loyal to the Congress, gave the meeting a miss.
Prominent among them are ministers Kanna Lakshminarayana, Anam Ramanarayana Reddy, N Raghuveera Reddy and P Bala Raju. However, an unfazed Kiran camp claimed it had not 'informed' all these leaders of the Chief Minister's weekend plans.
Kiran preferred to meet the leaders individually and separately. According to sources, during the three-hour-long session, the Chief Minister sought suggestions from his colleagues on two questions:
a) should he float a political party?
b) should he resign? Kiran is understood to have told them he would embark upon a yatra in Seemandhra after his resignation and that he might float a new party during the tour.
Emerging from the meeting, three close aides and Cabinet colleagues of Kiran, Ganta Srinivasa Rao, TG Venkatesh and Erasu Pratap Reddy, made it clear he would float a new party.
'There is every need to launch a new party on Samaikyandhra plank. Kiran will definitely float a new party,' said Pratap Reddy.
Interestingly, none of them announced they would surely join the party, if at all Kiran does form one. 'We are being invited by TDP and YSRC to join them. If Kiran floats a party, we will decide whether to join his party or other parties only after consulting our supporters,' said Pratap Reddy.
Former minister JC Diwakar Reddy is learnt to have told Kiran there would be of no use if a new party was floated on Samaikyandhra plank after bifurcation.
Earlier in the day, Union HRD Minister MM Pallam Raju and Minister of State for Railways Kotla Surya Prakash Reddy called on Kiran. TDP MLA Payyavula Keshav also called on the Chief Minister and held confabulations with him.
News Posted: 17 February, 2014
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