Hyderabad, March 28: N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, is planning to visit New Delhi once the Budget session of the state Assembly ends, to meet the Congress central leadership and resolve pending political issues. Some of the issues on which decisions have to be taken are a reshuffle of the state Cabinet following the Praja Rajyam’s formal merger with the Congress, reshuffling portfolios, filling up nominated posts to several public sector undertakings, and selection of Congress candidates for the Kadapa Lok Sabha and Pulivendula Assembly by-elections.
Pending for long is the selection of a new Pradesh Congress Committee president, the appointment of a Deputy Chief Minister, Assembly Speaker, and chairman and deputy chairman of the Legislative Council. On top of the Chief Minister’s agenda will be to get approval on the selection of a strong Congress candidate for the Kadapa Lok Sabha bypoll. Mr Narreddi Rajasekhara Reddy was almost finalised as the candidate, but a section of the party leadership, including the MLA from Kamalapuram, Mr Veera Siva Reddy, felt that he would be too weak a candidate to field against the breakaway former MP, Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy.
“If the party does not finalise the candidate now, it will be difficult for the candidate to reach out to voters at a later stage,” a minister from Kadapa district told this newspaper. A possible reshuffle of the Cabinet will have to wait till the formal merger of the Praja Rajyam, which is scheduled to take place some time in the third week of April. Sources say the CM will use the interregnum to attend to administrative matters like the appointment of information commissioners. The General Administration Department is in the process of convening a meeting for this purpose.
The CM will also formally initiate a dialogue with PCC president, Mr D. Srinivas, on the criteria to be adopted for nominated posts. After the advent of the Telangana movement into the political mix, it has become imperative to strike a balance between Telangana and Seemandhra politicians in all appointments. There is a new demand from MLCs of the Telangana region that the new Legislative Council chairman’s post should go to someone from T-region.
—-Agencies