Union Law and Justice Minister and Congress general secretary in charge of Andhra Pradesh M. Veerappa Moily on Saturday made it clear that the party high command had no say in Chief Minister K. Rosaiah's hesitation to occupy the CM's chamber that was once used by late Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy at Hyderabad Secretariat.
"Mr. Rosaiah is the Chief Minister and it is for him to take his decision. The Congress high command cannot give any direction to him on the issue," he told The Hindu here.
He said everything in the Andhra Pradesh government was going on smoothly and Ministers were cooperating with Mr. Rosaiah in running the administration.
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Mr. Moily replied in the negative when asked whether the high command had asked Mr. Rosaiah to come to Delhi next week for talks. "He may be coming on his own. I have not asked him to come here."
Asked whether the present arrangement -- with Mr. Rosaiah as Chief Minister, would continue at least till the completion of Assembly polls (October 13) in three States, he quipped: "all I can say is that no decision has been taken as of now (in view of demand for making Reddy's son Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy as Chief Minister)".
Meanwhile, a senior Congress leader, who once looked after party affairs in A.P., pointed out that since the party spokesman had already made it clear that Mr. Rosaiah was the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader there was no need for convening the CLP meeting now.
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The meeting of the CLP to elect its leader was only a formality for the party. "It is an internal matter of the organisation and not a constitutional obligation." Since Mr. Rosaiah had already been declared as the CM what was the hurry to convene such a meeting, he asked.