Yet another minister in the ruling Congress government in Andhra Pradesh is on the way out for his open defiance of the party leadership and outburst against Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy.
According to Congress party sources, the chief minister is learnt to have written to the party high command to permit him to sack health minister D L Ravindra Reddy, who has been sulking ever since he was stripped of his prime portfolio of medical education a couple of months ago.
The minister made an open announcement that he would not campaign for the party in the by-elections scheduled to be held on June 12. He also described the chief minister as the real agent of YSR Congress party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy and said Kiran had managed to become the chief minister by carrying suitcases to New Delhi.
The chief minister, who will be leaving for Delhi on Saturday to participate in the meeting called by Home Minister P Chidambaram, will submit a report to AICC in-charge of Andhra affairs Ghulam Nabi Azad and AICC observer Vayalar Ravi, seeking their permission to sack Ravindra Reddy, as sparing such leaders would trigger further indiscipline in the party.
The minister, however, stood by his comments against the chief minister. "I am not going to resign from the cabinet. I stand by my statement that those who are occupying the top position in the state were the real danger to the party. I am loyal only to the party high command and not these leaders," Ravindra Reddy said after meeting Pradesh Congress Committee president Botsa Satyanarayana on Friday.
The minister, who had unsuccessfully contested against Jaganmohan Reddy in the Kadapa Lok Sabha elections in 2011 and lost his deposit, made it clear that he would not campaign for the party in the next by-elections. He said he would not take any responsibility as the party had not consulted him in the selection of candidates in the district.
The minister's open revolt came as an irritant to N Kiran Kumar Reddy at a time when he is struggling to save his skin in the wake of reports that the Congress would put up a poor show in the forthcoming by-elections in the state.
Kiran loyalists, such as law minister Erasu Pratap Reddy and N Varadarajulu Reddy, came to the defence of the chief minister saying Ravindra Reddy's comments would cause considerable damage to the party. "The high command should either expel him from the party or ask him to put in his papers," Pratap Reddy said.
However, Ravindra Reddy shot back, saying only those who were neither male nor female would dare question him. Reiterating his comment that the chief minister was acting as a covert agent for Jagan, he sought to know why Kiran had not made any statement to attack Jagan, when the latter was going hammer and tongs against the Congress party. "Is it not true that Kiran had requested not to disqualify Jagan's followers G Srikanth Reddy and Srinivasulu?" he asked.
Ravindra Reddy added he had not done any lobbying for the cabinet berths. "But Kiran had made secret trips to Delhi at least 48 times when he was the Speaker and lobbied for the CM post," he said.
If Ravindra Reddy is sacked from the cabinet, he will be the fourth minister to go out of the cabinet ever since Kiran Kumar Reddy took over as the chief minister. While fomer endowments minister Jupalli Krishna Rao and former infrastructure minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy had resigned from the cabinet on the Telangana issue, textiles minister P Shankar Rao was sacked from the cabinet for revolting against the chief minister and making derogatory comments against him.
No comments:
Post a Comment