The Congress leadership has reportedly focussed attention on making changes in the State party as well as the government in the run up to the next general elections.
AICC general secretary and State affairs in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad on Thursday held discussions with Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy and AP Congress Committee president Botcha Satyanarayana on the political situation in the State, the party’s prospects and the measures needed to gear up the party for the next year’s polls. The criticism faced by the party and the government over the continuance of ‘tainted’ Ministers in the State Cabinet is reported to have figured prominently.
The issue assumed significance in the light of the Congress victory in the Karnataka Assembly polls where the party claimed that the “people voted against corruption and misrule.” The Chief Minister alone was present during the discussions with Mr. Azad in the afternoon, but Mr. Satyanarayana joined them in the second round of deliberations held late in the evening.
They are learnt to have weighed the pros and cons of continuing the Ministers whose names figured in the CBI charge-sheet and issuance of 26 controversial orders. The meeting, it is learnt, discussed the advantage the party would have in the event of sacking these Ministers from their posts.
The APCC chief explained the need to fill the nominated posts, lying vacant for some time now, as it could act as a morale booster for the aspirants to work with renewed vigour in gearing up the party for the polls. The constitution of the Minority Commission today was seen as a step in this direction.