Chiranjeevi set to become CM - TeluguPeople.com News

NEW DELHI: Actor-turned-union tourism minister K Chiranjeevi is most likely to emerge as the new Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh till the completion of general elections and the State bifurcation process.

The proposal to make Chiranjeevi as the stop-gap Chief Minister came up for discussion at the marathon strategy meeting held in the Congress war room.

The discussions were presided by Sonia Gandhi's political advisor Ahmed Patel and AICC in-charge of Andhra Pradesh affairs Digvijay Singh Digvijay Singh.Several Seemandhra Congress ministers and legislators were engaged in the deliberations.

Earlier, Digvijay Singh had a one-to-one meeting with Chiranjeevi and is understood to have sought suggestions in this stupendous task to select a leader who besides ably administering the State should also help lead the State Congress successfully in the ensuing poll battle.

Digvijay Singh told media after the war room meeting that a clear picture would emerge by Wednesday as to whether there would be President's Rule in the State or a new Chief Minister would be appointed.

'In any case, there will be simultaneous elections to the State Assembly as well as Parliament. We will decide shortly whether we will go to polls with the new government in place or the President's Rule,' he said.

Sources said the dominant view in the meeting was against imposition of President's Rule.

Realising that the traditional vote base of Reddys and Dalits has shown a clear shift towards YSR Congress party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, the Congress managers are of the view that former megastar of Telugu film industry Chiranjeevi is the best bet to consolidate the Kapu vote bank in Seemandhra.

A senior minister present in the meet said the party would make special efforts to drive home the message that it was Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi's intervention that led to a fair and just treatment to Seemandhra post bifurcation.

'We have to expose those parties who are claiming credit for it even though they shifted their stance twice or thrice,' the minister claimed.
According to sources, the Congress high command expressed view that in the event of imposition of President's Rule, it would be better if a Kapu leader like Chiranjeevi is made a new Chief Minister of the State.

Though other Kapu leaders with good image and name in politics like Kanna Lakshminarayana and Botsa Satyanarayana from Seemandhra, it is learnt that Chiranjeevi is the front runner for the post.

Moreover, the Telangana leaders, too, are not averse to the idea of making Chiranjeevi as the stop-gap Chief Minister. Major factors that help Chiranjeevi to be the main contender include he has about 18 per cent of vote bank in the State, image and charisma and a Kapu leader, who can pull the crowds for the general elections to be held in April and May.

The Centre, which invited wrath from Seemandhra after taking a decision on Telangana State, is in a mood to patch up with things and strengthen the party to keep its vote bank intact.

Ever since N Kiran Kumar Reddy stepped down from the Chief Minister post last week, the Congress high command has been in a dilemma on whether it should replace him with a suitable successor or impose Presidents' Rule in the State.

However, there has been overwhelming opposition from all quarters for bringing the State under President Rule. Even Congress leaders from Seemandhra region of the State, who till the other day, were engaged in a relentless battle with the High Command protesting against bifurcation of the State, now seemed to have relented and wanted a new government installed instead of President's Rule.

K Aruna, who is one of the Telangana Congress leaders invited for discussions by the party Central leaders, told the media that the Telangana leaders had firmly opposed imposition of President's Rule in the State and had also made it clear that they would not have any reservations regarding to which region the new Chief Minister belonged to.

'All we wanted was that a new government should be installed,' she observed.