Rosaiah to leave for Delhi amid speculations of change

HYDERABAD - Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K. Rosaiah will head to Delhi Tuesday amid speculations of a leadership change in the state and possible action against party MP Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy for allegedly targeting party chief Sonia Gandhi through his media outlets.

Rosaiah, who is currently in Puttaparthi town of Anantapur district to attend the birthday celebrations of religious leader Sathya Sai Baba along with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, will leave for Delhi via Bangalore Tuesday morning, according to sources in the Chief Minister’s Office.

The central leadership of the party is believed to have summoned Rosaiah to discuss the latest developments in the wake of the alleged slanderous stories aired by Sakshi television channel, owned by Jaganmohan Reddy, son of late chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.

The visit also assumes significance amid speculation that Rosaiah may offer to step down to enable the leadership to choose his successor, if it believes that a new leader can effectively tackle Jagan and the situation likely to emerge from the Srikrishna Committee report on the demand for separate statehood to Telangana.

The committee is to submit its report next month and pro-Telangana groups have warned of a “bloodbath” if the panel does not recommend carving out a separate Telangana state.

Sources in the Chief Minister’s Office, however, said Rosaiah’s Delhi visit was routine in nature. They said the appointment with Sonia Gandhi was sought some time back.

Rosaiah’s visit also comes amid the growing demand within the party to take action against Jagan for the anti-Sonia tirade on his channel and the daily newspaper by the same name.

The channel Saturday aired a programme, describing Gandhi as uninspiring speaker under whose leadership the party was losing ground in many states and the government was facing scams like the 2G spectrum scandal and the Commonwealth Games corruption.

The programme evoked strong condemnation from Rosaiah, his cabinet colleagues and senior party leaders. The channel, however, clarified that the story was not malicious and had nothing to do with Jagan.

Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily, Congress general secretary in-charge of party affairs in the state, told reporters in New Delhi Monday that the leadership had taken serious note of the Sakshi TV programme.

The leadership has already received a report from state Congress chief D. Srinivas.

Moily, however, said the leadership had not summoned Rosaiah to Delhi but he was coming on his own to brief the leadership of the latest political developments in the state.

Jagan’s detractors in the party allege he was targeting Sonia Gandhi for refusing to make him the chief minister and also for suspending his loyalists from the party.

Rosaiah was made chief minister after Rajasekhara Reddy died in a helicopter crash last year. However, political analysts say he has not proved himself as a strong leader.

The 78-year-old leader, who completed one year in office in September, could not reshuffle his cabinet to choose his own team, drop a couple of ministers loyal to Jagan and fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of another loyalist of the Kadapa MP.