By delaying the announcement of his party for various reasons, the one time Congress rebel leader and MP from Kadapa YS Jaganmohan Reddy has given a breather to Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy.
After his resignation from Congress, he had left extremely anxious moments for both the Congress High Command and KKR too soon after his oath taking ceremony in Raj Bhavan here.
Rumours were agog that day with electronic medium predicting the 'fall' of the state government. Close on its heels came the revolt of senior Ministers for their quota of plum portfolios, which was again portrayed as an imminent 'fall' of KKR government.
It is not taken for granted that the dissidence in the Congress is died down. They are obsessed and even YSR was widely known as a dissident. At this stage, the Congress can ill afford such activity.
To stem the dissidence in the party it is by no means a small task. The Congress leaders are once again at the old game with the former minister Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy from Chittoor district commenting openly against the Chief Minister the other day. How many more comment against KKR in secret is left to the time factor.
Dissidence apart, the Congress always made wrong steps.
Between 1978 and 1983, four Congress chief ministers were changed. During 1989 to 1994, three chief ministers were pulled out to the advantage of politically naive NT Rama Rao. Between 2009 and 2010, three chief ministers ruled the state, KKR being the latest.
A ratio of 60:40 was to be maintained in the portfolio allotment. In KKR’s Cabinet, 13 Reddys became Ministers, with 8 out of 11 important portfolios bagged by Reddys.
Under the current bickering, where does KKR stand?
He will have now some time to make his own mark on the political horizon, by launching his own schemes and also carrying forward YSR’s welfare programmes.
KKR will have to ensure that any fence-sitting leader does not desert the Congress by claiming that YSR’s schemes are being sidelined.
The Chief Minister will have to ensure that he is able to gather the Congress flock together and not allow the party leaders to drift away to YSJ’s party, eyeing greener pastures there.
As seen what NTR had said was coming true. The Congress has been giving room for pointing out that not only AP but all Congress ruled states were being administered by the Centre. Andhra Pradesh has become like a Union Territory.
The Chief Minister or Ministers run to and from New Delhi.
KKR will have to brace himself and prove NTR’s words wrong. If he succeeds, he will have ensured that Mr Jaganmohan Reddy’s party will be a bubble in the sea of politics.