AP heading for Central rule?

Hyderabad, Dec 24: Andhra Pradesh appears to be all set to come under the President’s rule. There are clear indications to this effect from various quarters.The first signal comes from the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government at the Centre itself. The UPA Government is deputing its Union Cabinet Secretary Chandrasekhar, to Hyderabad to assess the current situation in the State arising out of the latest statement issued by the Union Home Minister, Mr P Chidambaram, in New Delhi late on Wednesday.The senior officer of the Central Government is expected to arrive in the city by Thursday evening and will meet the Governor, Mr N D Tiwari.

“Mr Chandrasekhar is coming to Hyderabad only to meet the Governor to have a first hand information on the situation prevailing in the State and will report to the Centre,” a senior official in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) here said.What is giving credence to the speculation of the Central rule being imposed on the State is that the Chief Minister,Mr K Rosaiah,who met his Cabinet colleagues at an emergency meeting on Thursday afternoon, hinted that the situation is slipping out of his hands and that the Centre is contemplating to take a direct control of the administration here. A Cabinet Minister,who was present at the meeting, informed the media that the Chief Minister had sent clear signals that the President’s rule is imminent in the State to bring normalcy and to mollify the frayed tempers in different regions.

With the legislators from almost all political parties in Telangana region,including the ruling Congress, have put in their papers after Mr Chidambaram’s Wednesday’s statement, and the MLAs from Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra are yet to take back their resignations, Andhra Pradesh is reeling under political crisis.“The Centre wants to act before the State slips into a constitutional crisis,” a senior political analyst commented.Besides, the Centre is also of the view that the prevailing conditions in the State warrant its direct intervention to contain the large-scale protests relaunched by the pro-Telangana activists which turned the whole region into an inferno, the analyst felt.