Kiran turns a thorn in flesh for high command

HYDERABAD: Despite having more or less made up its mind to show the door to belligerent chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, the AICC leadership appears to be still grappling on how to go about installing a new person at the helm.

According to sources, the big question to which there is still no answer is that whether Kiran Reddy will obey the party directive if he is asked to step down from the top post.

'Our party high command has more or less decided to replace Kiran Reddy. But, the AICC top brass is still clueless on how to execute this plan. The party leadership is apprehensive over what would be the situation if Kiran doesn't follow its orders. It is also trying to asses how many party MLAs from Seemandhra would back the party's decision if Kiran is forced to step down,' said a senior minister.

In fact, if the AICC leadership wants to change the chief minister, the usual practice in the Congress is that it formally asks the incumbent to step down. Later, it calls the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting to elect a successor.

In the extreme event of the incumbent not following the orders of the party leadership, the AICC leadership can the CLP meet and ask its MLAs to pass a resolution that the chief minister be removed.

However, according to sources, since the chief minister has the backing of many Seemandhra MLAs, the Congress high command is racking its brains on how to replace the chief minister.

Since the strength of the party MLAs from Telangana is not sufficient to pass a resolution requesting the party leadership to remove Kiran Reddy, the high command is reportedly focused on persuading the MLAs to back the party's decision before formally asking Kiran to quit.

'Removal of Kiran Reddy is certain. Having given enough rope to Kiran, the party high command now doesn't want to allow him to further tarnish the image of the party.

After his letters to the President and the Prime Minister, our Delhi bosses have decided not to give further chance to Kiran to take on the AICC leadership,' said a source.

Anam's Talks With Gov: Against this backdrop, finance minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy, who had recently held a meeting at his residence with 11 ministers from Seemandhra against the attitude of Kiran, confabulated with Governor ESL Narasimhan on Monday evening at Raj Bhavan here for more than half an hour.

This development assumes significance as the Delhi bosses are understood to have already taken a detailed report from the Governor during his recent visit to Delhi on the prevailing political situation in the state in order to formulate their strategy to deal with Kiran Reddy.

Meanwhile, minister N Raghuveera Reddy, who had recently undertaken Delhi visit and held crucial talks with the AICC leadership, indirectly referring to Kiran and MP Lagadapti Rajagopal, said, 'It is not proper for our party leaders to revolt against the leadership and tarnish the party's image.'

Meanwhile, Union minister MM Pallam Raju seems to have softened his stand against his party leadership. He said on Monday, 'It is not appropriate to allege that the AICC leadership had turned a blind eye to Seemandhra while bifurcating the state. We are trying to protect the interests of the region if division is certain.