Kiran camp meet turns a damp squib
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 on 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 known detractor Minister Dokka Manikya Vara Prasada Rao, many of his Cabinet colleagues and MLAs, who are still loyal to the Congress high command, 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 the leaders of the Chief Minister's weekend plans.
Kiran preferred to meet the attending leaders individually and separately. 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 that 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, T G Venkatesh and Erasu Pratap Reddy, made it clear that 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.
None of them announced that they would surely join the party, if at all Kiran does form one.
News Posted: 17 February, 2014
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