Will not resign on T like last time

Former minister and senior Congress Leader JC Diwakar Reddy on Wednesday said that he would not resign, but instead obey whatever decision the High Command takes on the separate statehood demand.

Talking to media persons on Assembly premises after returning from New Delhi, Mr Diwakar Reddy said that, “There is no question of me resigning from my elected post. Unlike the last time, I will not resign this time around, but instead would accept the High Command’s decision on Telangana.”

Describing the Telangana issue as a sensitive one, the senior leader stated that the Centre would find a solution to it soon. He added, “Seemandhra leaders are bound to obey the Centre’s decision.”

Mr Diwakar Reddy had tendered his resignation to protest against the December 9, 2009 statement made by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram in which he had said that the process for formation of Telangana had begun. The spate of resignations by the Seemandhra leaders at that time had forced the Centre to constitute the Srikrishna Committee.

Emphasising that the expanding the Cabinet is the prerogative of the Chief Minister, the former minister said that he is in contention for a berth in the Council of Ministers. “We are all in contention for a Cabinet berth. However, the choice of Ministers is the prerogative of the Chief Minister,” Mr Diwakar Reddy said.

He added, “the Chief Minister can any take any decision on accommodating and dropping Ministers from his Cabinet, based on their performance. No one can interfere in this.”

Responding on actor-turned-politician K Chiranjeevi’s statement that he would become Chief Minister one day, Mr Diwakar Reddy said that everyone aspires for posts and they want to come up in life.

When asked about YSR Congress Party president YS Jaganmohan Reddy’s Odarpu Yatra, the former minister stated that, “I will gladly host Mr Jaganmohan Reddy if he stays in Tadipatri.”