Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy has reportedly decided not to go to New Delhi or hold further consultations with the Congress high command on the contentious separate Telangana issue.
The Chief Minister told the group of his stunned Cabinet colleagues about the decision claiming that there is no point in speaking to the party top leadership which has completely ignored him. “When the high command leaders are not speaking to me and completely ignoring me, why should I go and meet them?” he is reported to have asked his colleagues who called on him on Thursday.
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The Seemandhra Ministers and senior leaders approached Mr. Kiran Reddy after holding a hurriedly convened meeting at the Ministers Club House. About 40 Ministers, MPs, MLAs and MLCs attended this meeting which was held before the Telangana note came up for discussion in the Union Cabinet.
Finance Minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy and Revenue Minister N. Raghuveera Reddy and others were unhappy at being kept in the dark over the developments on bifurcation. The meeting called upon Ministers and legislators to sink their differences and put up a united fight as this was the only way to mount pressure on the Centre.
The Ministers authorised the Chief Minister and APCC president Botcha Satyanarayana to convince the party leadership about the need to address the concerns of Seemandhra. There was also a suggestion that the Union Cabinet Ministers and the MPs from the region should quit their posts and seats to pressure the Centre.
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A senior MLA told The Hindu that the tone and tenor of the Chief Minister gave an ample indication that the latter was on collision course with the high command. “What is the use of going to Delhi and meet them, when they are consulting others,” the MLA quoted Mr. Kiran Reddy as saying.
Congress leaders said Mr. Reddy’s address at the impromptu meeting looked like a farewell speech.
Earlier, the meeting demanded that the Union Government withdraw its move to bifurcate the State as “nothing short of united Andhra Pradesh’’ is acceptable to them.
“We will stay within the party and fight with determination till our concerns are addressed. There is no question of leaving the party. The meeting resolved that we should not resign from the party but remain inside and fight,” Minister Kondru Murali told The Hindu .