A top State Congress leader had reportedly called on AICC president Sonia Gandhi in Karnataka’s Mandya district earlier this week, urging her to expedite the process of the State’s division before a possible revolt by Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy.
Lending credence to this talk was the accusation by the Congress’ Vijayawada MP, Lagadapati Rajagopal, that an influential party leader had been in constant touch with the party high command on the matter.
After attending a meeting of ministers at the residence of Finance Minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy, the said leader reportedly left for Mandya en route Bangalore. He is said to have met the party chief and briefed her, and party general secretary Digvijay Singh, about the division among the Seemandhra Ministers. He promised her that more leaders were now ready to tow the party line.
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The leader is said to have made a forceful demand that the process of division should be expedited to prevent embarrassment to the top leadership. It was only after the meeting that the central leadership took stock of the situation and decided to bring the note on division at the Cabinet meeting on Thursday.
Interestingly, a section of the Congress leaders point out that the Chief Minister and the PCC chief were in the dark till the last moment, as the Congress central leadership took care to keep the introduction of Cabinet the note on division a top secret.
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