Taking off from where Union Minister K. Chiranjeevi left, Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Rajanarsimha directly complained to AICC president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday about the style of functioning of Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy.
Mr. Damodar, who had an audience with Ms Gandhi for 20 minutes, is believed to have told her that it was becoming difficult for him and other senior colleagues to continue working with Mr. Kiran Reddy.
Sources said he had a fairly long list of complaints against the Chief Minister beginning with his ‘arrogance’ seen in not taking him or other Cabinet colleagues into confidence whenever a policy decision was taken. Ministers did not enjoy freedom in taking any decision on their own while the Chief Minister preferred to act unilaterally. None of them was treated with respect they deserved. Cabinet meetings had become rare. Mr. Damodar is reported to have continued in the same tone during his meeting with Ghulam Nabi Azad, AICC general secretary in charge of Andhra Pradesh. Sources said he even wondered how he is expected to work with a team leader who had no faith in him. Though there was well-established convention of assigning the portfolio of Home to the Deputy Chief Minister, this was deliberately and repeatedly denied to him, he is stated to have bitterly complained.
The Deputy Chief Minister rounded off his hectic schedule in New Delhi by meeting Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, reportedly to point out how a Dalit colleague is being ill-treated by the CM.
Coming close on the heels of Mr. Chiranjeevi’s grouse, Mr. Damodar’s complaint ensured that for the second consecutive day voices of dissent against Mr. Kiran echoed in the national capital. In fact, Mr. Chiranjeevi continued to be in a combative mood on Thursday too when he asserted before media in New Delhi that Minister C. Ramachandraiah, his close supporter, would not be touched in the impending Cabinet reshuffle.
