Moves are afoot in the Congress to corner Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on the strategy adopted by him to curb the influence of former MP YS Jaganmohan Reddy in the just concluded MLC elections from the Local Authorities Constituencies in eight districts.
According to highly placed sources in the party, a group of Ministers have lodged a complaint with the party High Command against Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy. The sources say that the Ministers blame the ‘flawed strategy’ adopted by the Chief Minister in entering a ‘secret deal’ with the TDP to counter Mr Jaganmohan Reddy.
This strategy, to seek the help of the TDP, is seen to be particularly galling to the Ministers, who have reportedly told the High Command that the ‘secret understanding’ has left the party cadre on the ground on who to support. The Ministers have reportedly said that the traditional Congress supporters, already in two minds after Mr Jaganmohan Reddy quit the party and floated his own outfit, were reluctant to support the ruling party.
This was one of the major flaws in the strategy, and it had left the Congress a divided house, the Ministers are believed to have said.
Incidentally, the Congress, the TDP and independents backed by Mr Jaganmohan Reddy captured three seats each of the nine which were contested for.
The Ministers are believed to have told the High Command that the end result was that both the Jagan group and the TDP, which had a lone seat earlier, were the major gainers while the Congress was left red faced after the results.
It may be mentioned here that the Congress High Command had opted for Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy to occupy the Chief Minister’s chair after his predecessor K Rosaiah had resigned, since it was assumed that he would be able to control the rampaging rebel leader.
The Congress had made it a prestige issue to capture all the nine seats, and crush the juggernaut of Mr Jaganmohan Reddy in its nascent stages, by entrusting the 'campaigning' to Ministers DL Ravinder Reddy, Syed Ahmedullah, in-charge Minister Kanna Lakshminarayana and 20 Point Chairman Tulasi Reddy.
However, in the fight between the Congress and the former MP, it was the TDP which made the most of the situation, increasing its tally to three from the earlier one seat.
As for the results, the Congress won three seats in Srikakulam, Kurnool and Nellore, the Anantapur, West Godavari and East Godavari were captured by the TDP and the independent candidates backed by Mr Jaganmohan Reddy captured the seats in Kadapa, Chittoor and West Godavari. The Hyderabad LAC seat has already been won by the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen.
In all, 6,793 voters exercised their franchise to elect 9 out of 33 candidates. The Congress had fielded 8 candidates, the Telugu Desam Party 6 and 19 were Independent candidates.
In Kadapa, four independents were in the fray against the lone Congress candidate who had the backing of Ministers DL Ravinder Reddy, Syed Ahmedullah, Kanna Lakshminarayana and 20 Point Chairman Tulasi Reddy.
In Anantapur, the TDP and Congress fought the poll face to face while in Nellore district, the TDP, Congress and an independent were locked in a triangular contest. In West Godavari, the TDP candidate faced eight Independents while in East Godavari, two independents fought against the TDP and Congress.
The Congress candidate in Srikakulam came face to face with an independent whereas three independents had to fight the Congress and TDP candidates in Chittoor district. Incidentally, Chittoor district is Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy's home turf but his rival Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy has been going against the Congress candidate. In Kurnool again, the Independent, Congress and TDP candidates are locked in a triangular contest.
Sources say that the group of Ministers have stopped short of calling for the Chief Minister’s head. They are reported to have told the High Command that Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy should be strictly warned not to dally with the TDP and in fact treat it as the primary opposition.
Meanwhile, calls for the Chief Minister’s head have begun to emerge from the lower rung of the party.
One such example is that of party’s Greater Hyderabad Committee general secretary Syed Shah Mujahidullah Hussaini who demanded that Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy should be sacked.