Hyderabad, January 20: Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy who allayed fears of his Cabinet colleagues from Telangana on Rachchabanda, now has chosen to launch the programme in north Coastal Andhra on January 24. The programme, aimed at implementing all welfare programmes on a saturation basis and also to ensure that eligible persons get benefited from these programmes, will be launched at Rajam in Srikakulam on January 24.
On the same day, the chief minister will visit Gushidi in Nellimerla constituency in Vizianagaram district as part of the programme.
After a night halt at Visakhapatnam, he will participate in the programmes to be held in Visakhapatnam and East Godavari districts on January 25. He will return to Hyderabad on the same day. It is learnt that Kiran Kumar Reddy chose not to launch the programme in Telangana as per the advice of his Cabinet colleagues as they did not want the programme to be disrupted during the inaugural session itself.
However, the chief minister seems to have other plans for launching the programme from Srikakulam. Sources said that he wants to make an attempt to bring back the Congress cadre into the partyfold who are supporting former MP Y S Jagan in north coastal Andhra. A few ministers also pointed out that Srikakulam was chosen due to the sentimental value as former chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, who used to launch most of his welfare programmes in Srikakulam. Kiran Kumar Reddy wants to send similar signals to the party cadre.
Meanwhile, several ministers want people not to link the Telangana issue with Rachchabanda programme. Major industries minister J Geeta Reddy and civil supplies minister D Sridhar Babu said that both the issues are different and there is no need to link them. Transport minister B Satyanarayana expressed similar view and suggested T supporters to use the Rachchabanda programme as a platform to express their wish by passing resolutions supporting bifurcation of the state.
–Agencies