Is the “imminent change of guard” in the State shocking news to Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy and PCC Chief Botcha Satyanarayana?
According to an informed senior Congress leader, it is true. He said the party high command has already set a stage for change of guards in the State. According to him, AICC chief Sonia Gandhi has finalized names for the two top posts of Chief Minister and PCC Chief and the changes may take place any moment in November.
According to the deep throat, a BC leader from the Telangana region might be appointed new Chief Minister. If the indications come true, PCC former chief Dharmapuri Srinivas, who was yearning for chief minister’s post for the past several years, may step into the shoes of N. Kiran Kumar Reddy.
It is also learnt that late chief minister M. Channa Reddy’s son and Sanathnagar MLA and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Vice-Chairman Marri Shashidhar Reddy was trying seriously to grab the chief minister post from Telangana region. From the Seemandhra region, Finance Minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy was trying his luck for the coveted post.
It is learnt that Sonia Gandhi had discussed the issue of selection of MPs for the recent induction into the Union Cabinet with Marri Shashidhar Reddy and D. Srinivas though Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy and PCC Chief Botcha had submitted a list of names to the supremo. She reportedly finalized the names on hearing these two leaders and set aside the list submitted by the CM and PCC chief.
The sources said that Sonia Gandhi was examining the names of D Srinivas and Marri Shashidhar Reddy for the chief minister’s post. PCC Chief Botcha Satyanarayana may lose his party job if Sonia Gandhi likes to see D Srinivas as chief minister because both Botcha and DS are BCs belonging to same caste though their regions are different. Under the circumstances, Anam Ramanarayana Reddy may get the chance to become PCC Chief if Sonia inclined to give CM post to DS by removing Botcha from PCC chief post to balance the caste and regional equations.
The senior leader also said that there was no link between the Telangana issue and the selection of new Chief Minister from the Telangana region. While change of Chief Minister was an internal affair of the Congress, the Telangana issue was concerning the State and the nation. “It doesn’t mean that the Centre would not create separate Telangana State if the CM post was given to a Telangana leader”, the deep throat reportedly said.
It is also learnt that the high command, especially AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi, had selected six leaders from the State to study the party situation in different States as well as the winning chances of the sitting MPs and MLAs in 2014 elections. (NSS)