One of the first persons who is likely to jump over to the camp of former Kadapa MP YS Jaganmohan Reddy is the man who had served as a minister five times under various governments and six time MLA from Anantapur district JC Diwakar Reddy.
According to sources, JC is miffed at being sidelined by Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy whose Cabinet was sworn in earlier on Wednesday.
To add fuel to the fire, JC’s junior S Sailajanath was picked to be part of the Cabinet, furthering his sense of embarrassment.
Mr Diwakar Reddy had expected a Cabinet berth when the former chief minister late YS Rajasekhara Reddy formed the government for the second time. However, YSR did not accommodate him.
JC then hoped that he would be picked as a Minister in the by former chief minister K Rosaiah, but all talks of a Cabinet reshuffle never took place. Mr Rosaiah was perhaps the only Chief Minister whose entire Cabinet was picked by his predecessor.
KKR picked two Legislators from Anantapur district for his Cabinet, N Raghuveera Reddy and S Sailajanath. Mr Raghuveera Reddy was picked as he was a one-time YSR loyalist and his inclusion would likely curb voices of dissent from the pro-Jagan camp.
Analysts say that Mr Sailajanath was picked as a Minister since KKR was keen to be seen as giving representation to all castes in his Cabinet. Another decisive factor in picking the two was the prevailing volatile condition in the Anantapur district.
Sources say that Mr Diwakar Reddy was not accommodated as most of leaders from the district opposed his candidature, to the extent that if he was picked, the party in the district would be divided into two groups and equations will change.
Speaking to media persons after the swearing in ceremony, Mr Diwakar Reddy said “I do not understand why the Chief Minister did not give me a position in the Cabinet.”
He however added that he would continue to work as loyal party worker and cooperate with the government.
But his words do not match up to the feeling of resentment, especially after his junior was picked as a Minister ahead of him. He was expected to be named a Minister to put a check on Jagan-loyalists from drifting away from the party. JC’s sidelining has now thrown up interesting possibilities in the Congress.
According to, the Jagan-group has already called on JC and have held parleys with him.
It remains to be seen if JC will bury his differences with Mr Jaganmohan Reddy and join his camp, to work towards the ultimate aim of collapsing the new government.nd,allu sireesh,d suresh babu