Hyderabad: A late night telephone call from Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy to Praja Rajyam Party president K Chiranjeevi has led to wide-spread speculation that his party legislators might be inducted into the Congress
ministry to checkmate to rebel MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy.
The call from Chief Minister, who is currently camping
in New Delhi, to the PRP president assumes significance with
clear signals that the high command was in no mood to be
accommodative towards Jagan and his loyalist MLAs in the
constitution of the state Cabinet.
Kiran Kumar reportedly discussed about the Cabinet
formation during the telephonic conversation with Chiranjeevi.
Though PRP sources here were tightlipped about the
discussion the Chief Minister had with their president,
Chiranjeevi immediately took up the issue with his senior
colleagues.
Chiranjeevi is expected to meet Kiran here tomorrow
afternoon to carry their discussion forward.
Late last night, the Chief Minister asserted in New
Delhi that "only Congress" legislators would be part of his
Council of Ministers, brushing aside speculation that the PRP
would also be offered Cabinet berths.
Even after finalizing his Cabinet list, after hectic
parleys with Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhi,
tonight, Kiran did not reveal anything about the possible
inclusion of PRP in the Cabinet.
Earlier in the day here, even Chiranjeevi pleaded
ignorance about any move by his party to join the Congress
government.
Kiran, however, called Chiranjeevi and reportedly told
him that he will discuss other things upon returning to
Hyderabad tomorrow.
This fuelled fresh talk about the PRP being taken into
the Cabinet in the first round itself, rather than in the
subsequent expansion.
If this happens, Jagan will lose no time to make his
exit from the Congress, political observers here feel.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, November 28, 2010, 23:44