Who will grab much coveted Home Ministry?

27 May, 2013 16:32 IST|Sakshi
Who will grab much coveted Home Ministry?

The entire state Congress is closely watching the developments that who will be the next Home Minister?

The exit of Sabita Indra Reddy, a first lady Home Minister exactly after four years as she assumed charge on May 27, 2009, raised aspirations among the leaders in the Congress. There are a number of aspirants who are lobbying for the post without the good offices of the Chief Minister.

Deputy Chief Minister Damodara Rajanarasimha is top of the list. Rajanarasimha, who is up in the arms against CM Kiran Reddy, met several leaders directly in Delhi and made his intentions clear to become Home Minister. He strongly felt that he will be the best bet for the post as a Dalit leader. He got assurances from Gulam Nabi Azad to some extent. Other senior leaders who are trying hard to get the lucrative post are former Home Minister K Jana Reddy, D Srinivas and Shabbir Ali – all the three from Telangana region. They hope that as Sabita from Telangana and the successor too may be chosen from the same region. 

What’s on Kiran’s mind?   

CM Kiran Reddy, who is leaving for Delhi in the morning of May 29 or early morning on May 30, and is waiting for the arrival of Azad from abroad, is firm to get things done in his favour this time. His intention is that the Cabinet must be given a fresh look showing door to all the dissident and tainted ministers. He wants tainted ministers Ponnala Lakshmaiah, Kanna Lakshminayarana and J Geeta Reddy and secondary grade education minister Parthasaradhy, who was charged with FERA violation case, must be vacated in the first instance.

His detractors like D L Ravindra Reddy and C Ramachandraiah of erstwhile PRP leader are to be ousted. Ramachandraaiah became an obstacle always making itching comments against the CM. If he is deleted from the list, another MLA from PRP may be considered, who should be loyal to Kiran. The priorities of the Chief Minister will work only if the party high command agrees for the total reshuffling of the cabinet. Otherwise, he has his own list of leaders forHome Ministry. His first option will be Suneeta Lakshma Reddy, who was elected three times from Narasapur in Medak district if the high command opts for replacing a woman with another woman. The second option may be his close associate and Minister Sridhar Babu or otherwise D K Aruna, minister for Information. 

Hurdles for a reshuffle?

Kiran Reddy has been asking the high command for a major reshuffle instead of taking one and dropping two since he assumed the office of the chief minister. The reshuffle is expected when two PRP members are inducted into the State Cabinet. The high command said ‘no’. Kiran Reddy has been denied reshuffle on several other occasions by the party leadership. 

There are aspirants from his own group for the coveted post of the Home Ministry. They include J C Diwakar Reddy, Gade Venkata Reddy and Government whip Jagga Reddy and Gandra Venkata Ramana Reddy. The CM wished to take Veerasiva Reddy into his new cabinet by dropping D L Ravindra Reddy to induct a minister from YSR Kadapa. The name of Satyavathi, a BC leader from Srikakulam came into the fore for cabinet post to represent from Srikakulam district which has no minister after Dharmana Prasada Rao’s resignation.    Satyavaty was elected second time from Srikakulam and she is in the good books of Kiran Kumar Reddy. 

Some senior leaders and MLCs have also strong desire to get a berth in the cabinet. Mohammed Jani from Guntur district, Shabbir Ali from Nizamabad, Paladugu Venkatrao from Krishna district, Ponguleti Sudhakar from Khammam and Rudraraju Padmaraju from West Godavari are the strongest contenders for cabinet berths. PCC chief Botsa Satyanarayana may be retained in the cabinet if 'one man two posts' idea not taken into consideration.   

Will new cabinet take oath by June 10?

The Chief Minister may exert pressure on the party high command as there are no ministers for some departments. Apart from recently vacated Home and R & B departments, there is no representation for the Excise department after Mopidevi Venkataramana was sent to jail. Other key portfolios like Power and Commercial Taxes are lying with the chief minister. It is strongly felt that the cabinet reshuffle is the need of the hour as the local body elections are fast approaching. The assembly session will be beginning from June 10 and the new cabinet is likely to swear in before the session. 

-aks@sakshipost  

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