Miffed mantris raise banner of revolt against Kiran Kumar

Vatti Vasant Kumar joins the anti-CM brigade

Hyderabad : Upping the ante, dissident ministers in Kiran Kumar Reddy's government met PCC president Botcha Satyanarayana at his residence on Thursday and expressed their displeasure over the method of functioning of Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy. It appears that the ministers are getting divided into pro and anti Chief Minister groups.

Those who met Botcha include Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Raja Narasimha, D L Ravindra Reddy, K Jana Reddy and Vatti Vasant Kumar. They decided to register their protest against the Chief Minister's attitude with the party high command, though they felt that the response from the high command would be lukewarm.

While D L Ravindra Reddy, Damodar and K Jana Reddy have been openly airing their unhappiness over Kiran's style of functioning, the Minister for Tourism Vatti joined them on Thursday. They expressed their ire that Kiran was misusing the free hand given by the party high command by ignoring the ministers while taking important decisions.

Adding a new dimension to the dissension, Vatti Vasant Kumar said that Kiran had fixed the tour programme to West Godavari district on May 5 without informing him though he was a minister from the same district. Vasant Kumar represents Unguturu constituency in the district. Even senior Congress leader and MLC K R Amos aired his unhappiness over Kiran's style of functioning.

D L Ravindra Reddy was unhappy that Kiran was announcing various schemes without consulting the ministers or discussing the issue at cabinet meetings, though they have bearing on the State budget. Damodar refused to participate in the meeting in Medak district along with Kiran stating that the Chief Minister was not giving him due importance while talking about the SC ST Sub-Plans, though he had played a key role in drafting the policy. He is also miffed that Kiran was giving more importance to Sunitha Lakshma Reddy who is also from Medak distirct.

Jana Reddy too felt that Kiran was ignoring the ministers. He said that Kiran was only consulting few who belonged to his coterie and was keeping others including senior ministers in the dark. The Chief Minister was also passing comments which were hurting the T sentiment in the region, Jana reportedly told Botcha.

However, the group supporting the Chief Minister denied the allegations made by the dissident group. Minister for Secondary Education Parthasarathy and Minister for Medical Education Kondru Murali said that the Chief Minister was consulting all available ministers and those who were heading the concerned departments. Pithani Satyanarayana, on Wednesday, had made similar remarks when the dissident ministers made critical remarks against Kiran.

Amos said that the party could be strengthened only when Kiran gave a clear direction in the cabinet and party forum as to what line they should take in regard to YS Rajasekhara Reddy. "It sounds ridiculous that they are lashing out at Jaganmohan Reddy while defending YSR. This is causing immense damage to the image of the party," he felt.

Botcha later sought to downplay the whole issue saying that no special significance should be attached to the meeting since ministers do keep coming to him. "Even Home Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy met me two days back," he said. But, the fact remains that Botcha was not happy over the manner in which Kiran was promoting Kondru Murali from north coastal region ignoring him. On Wednesday, Botcha stated that he was also not aware of the Bangaru Thalli scheme though he heads the party.

While all dissident ministers left without talking to the media, Vatti joined Botcha in downplaying the issue. He said that he came to Botcha's house to discuss some other issue and was not aware that other ministers were there. He hastened to add that the Chief Minister should discuss new schemes in cabinet before they are announced in public.