Perturbed over reports of rampant infighting in the wake of the Congress party's debacle in the Assembly by-election, the high command is likely to summon Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy and PCC chief Botcha Satyanarayana to New Delhi to set the house in order. The AICC is reported to have asked the two leaders to come over to New Delhi at the earliest, keeping in view the ongoing budget session of the Assembly.
Meanwhile, Health Minister D.L. Ravindra Reddy left for Delhi on Friday to convey to the high command his view that the party would face another electoral drubbing if it did not take some drastic decisions. He was said to be carrying with him survey reports forecasting that the Congress would fare poorly in the upcoming by-elections to 18 Assembly and Nellore LS seat.
The Chief Minister's camp is said to have also sent through a messenger copies of the official reports about the involvement of some party leaders in the irregularities committed by the liquor syndicate.
It is understood that his primary target was Mr. Satyanarayana who admitted that his family members and relatives own 26 liquor shops. Amid the prevailing uncertainty, there is every likelihood of Mr. Satyanarayana emerging as a rallying point for the Chief Minister's critics. Joining the ranks of those wanting Kiran to go, three Congress MPs -- G. Vivek, V. Hanumanth Rao and Ponnam Prabhakar -- blamed Mr. Kiran Kumar Reddy for not taking them into confidence in the selection of candidates in Telangana or involving them in the campaign. It was this lack of initiative that led to the party's washout in the by-election.
However, the Chief Minister's camp ridicules the talk of leadership change and maintains that the dissident activity would fizzle out once the high command cracks the whip. Worried over their future, three Ministers and over two dozen Congress MLAs, who were elected to the Assembly for the first time, are reportedly in touch with the YSR Congress leadership.
