Key issues await Diggy's AP report

CM returns without meeting Sonia

• Digvijay to make an on-the-spot assessment of ground situation during his upcoming visit
• Meets Jaipal Reddy, holds talks for two hours

Venkat Parsa

New Delhi: Winding up his four-day visit to the Capital, Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy returned to Hyderabad, but without meeting Congress President Sonia Gandhi. He, however, had two rounds of detailed and exhaustive discussions with AICC General Secretary in-charge of Andhra Pradesh, Digvijay Singh, who is likely to carry forward the issues raised by him.

According to party sources, Digvijay Singh will make an on-the-spot assessment of ground situation after interacting with the leaders in Hyderabad during his upcoming visit, after which he will report back to Sonia Gandhi. It is only then that the Congress High Command will take a view on the various issues. As such, issues like free hand for the Chief Minister, Cabinet expansion, naming a successor to the State Home Minister following the resignation of Sabita Indra Reddy and all such pending issues will be addressed. It is against this backdrop that it was felt that the meeting with Sonia Gandhi could be deferred.

Even on the crucial Telangana issue, it is only after the upcoming visit of Digvijay Singh to Hyderabad and his meetings with various leaders there that the Congress will consider the way forward. Sonia Gandhi, too, would like to wait for Digvijay Singh to make his first visit to Andhra Pradesh after assuming charge of the party affairs in the State and report back to her. Sonia Gandhi would like to hear from him, before deciding on how to proceed further in the matter. With the Centre having on its hands the biggest-ever rescue and relief operations in Uttarakhand, the entire focus and energies are directed towards it. The High Command will not allow its attention to be diverted to any other issue, at the moment.

The Chief Minister, too, focussed his attention entirely on rescue and relief operations, having deputed State Ministers to Dehradun and himself interacting with and consoling the survivors in AP Bhavan in the Capital. Minister C Uttam Kumar Reddy has, in the meanwhile, claimed that there is no objection from the High Command for holding the pro-Telangana rally in the Nizam College Grounds in Hyderabad on Sunday. Significantly, Kiran Reddy called on Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who had recently relinquished charge as AICC General Secretary in-charge of Andhra Pradesh. It was more in the nature of a courtesy call. Azad had held extensive consultations with the leaders of Telangana and Andhra regions on the issue of bifurcation and had even submitted a detailed report to Sonia Gandhi.

Kiran Kumar also received Union Textiles Minister Kavuri Sambasiva Rao and Union Tourism Minister K Chiranjeevi among others at the AP Bhavan. Both the leaders are for united Andhra Pradesh and have been opposing the division of the State. The Chief Minister is likely to go to New Delhi sometime next week to meet Sonia Gandhi.