Giving credence to the talk that Congress leadership is keen on installing a new government in the State, all the Seemandhra Ministers have been asked to attend a meeting with AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh on Tuesday. A decision to this effect was taken on Monday after PCC president Botcha Satyanarayana held discussions with Mr. Singh to brief him about the political developments in the wake of resignation of Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy from his post and the party besides taking stock of number of legislators, who are likely to sail with him if the new party was launched.
Sources said barring five former Ministers – Ganta Srinivasa Rao, Pithani Satyanarayana, T.G. Venkatesh, Erasu Pratap Reddy and S. Sailajanath, other former Ministers have been asked to attend the meeting. The meeting would take a call on whether President’s Rule could be avoided by installing a new government till the elections. A top party source told The Hindu that the AICC leadership was concerned about the fate of party in Seemandhra region and wanted to make sure the number of leaders, who would stay put in the Congress. It was also exploring the possibility of finding a suitable leader, who could head the next government. The major worry was to ensure that a leader from Seemandhra, who was acceptable to Telangana leaders, could be selected. It is believed that the party would take a final call on Tuesday on the issue of President’s Rule after it is convinced that there would be no problem in having a popular government. Indications suggest that the party is considering the names of Union Ministers – K. Chiranjeevi and M.M. Pallam Raju, former Ministers Kanna Lakshminarayana, N. Raghuveera Reddy and Anam Ramanarayana Reddy as the possible candidates for the top post from Seemandhra. There is also a long list of leaders from Telangana such as former Deputy Chief Minister C. Damodar Raj Narasimha, former Ministers – K. Jana Reddy, J. Geetha Reddy, N. Uttam Kumar Reddy and Ponnala Lakshmaiah besides D. Srinivas and Union Minister S. Jaipal Reddy.