KVP told to stay put in Delhi
New Delhi/ Hyderabad
Sept. 9: The Congress high command on Wednesday held consultations with many party leaders from Andhra Pradesh on the issue of choosing the successor of the late Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy.
Sources said that the high command preferred to address the succession issue in New Delhi itself and is in no mood to depute party observers to Hyderabad at present. The central leadership feels there is no point in sending observers to meet MLAs because the political atmosphere is already charged in favour of Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy, son of YSR. Instead, the high command will be seeking more information from party leaders by summoning them to Delhi.
This means the present exercise will continue for some more days and the Chief Minister, Mr K. Rosaiah, and the PCC chief, Mr D. Srinivas, might also be asked to be available at Delhi. Meanwhile the Telugu channel NTV aired a snap opinion poll showing 75 per cent of respondents plugging for Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy as Chief Minister. Done by the market research agency AG Nielsen, the poll showed 13 per cent of respondents backing Mr Rosaiah. The PCC president, Mr D. Srinivas, the union minister, Prof. Jaipal Reddy, and the minister of state, Ms D. Purandareswari, were preferred by three per cent each of the respondents. The poll covered 11, 562 people across the state, according to a release issued by the channel.
Sources said that the high command was also considering the option of making Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy the PCC president while continuing with Mr Rosaiah as Chief Minister. According to some MPs who have met the Congress president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, and top leaders of the party, “lot of misinformation” about Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy had been fed to them. There are reports that the high command had asked the Rajya Sabha member and a close aide of the YSR family, Mr K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao, to work out alternatives without causing heartburn to the YSR loyalists.
Meanwhile, Mr Rao met the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, apparently in a bid to forward the cause of Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy. “The Prime Minister knows everything about the political situation in the state,” he told mediapersons later. “He is also aware of the sentiments of people and partymen. I do not have to explain the details to him.” He also met AICC general secretary, Mr Digvijay Singh, and the finance minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee. He had met the Congress president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, and the state in-charge, Mr Veerappa Moily, the other day
