Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy stirred a hornet’s nest on New Year’s Eve by stripping minister and Telangana loyalist D. Sridhar Babu of the legislative affairs portfolio and allocating it to staunch integrationist Dr S. Sailajanath.
In a late night development on Tuesday, the Chief Minister recommended the change of portfolios to Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan. The CM’s decision comes just before the state Assembly is be reconvened to “resume” debate on the AP Reorganisation Bill 2013, from January 3.
The ministry is very crucial at this juncture because the minister plays a decisive role in the running of the session.
Apparently to keep Sridhar Babu happy, the CM allocated commercial taxes in addition to civil supplies, which Sridhar Babu is handling.
The commercial taxes portfolio, the bread earner for the government, has been with successive Chief Ministers since 2009.
The CM created a new portfolio, “Language” (development), and allotted it to tourism minister Vatti Vasanth Kumar. Sources said this was done to make it appear that the changes were routine.
Once a trusted lieutenant of Kiran, Sridhar parted ways with him soon after the Congress Working Committee decided in favour of the T state. Lately, the two were at loggerheads over proroguing the Assembly and differences reached a peak in the just-concluded Assembly Session wherein Mr Sridhar announced that the Assembly had initiated the debate on the T Bill in contrast to the CM’s claims that the debate was yet to begin.
Kiran’s decision not democratic
Sources close to the Chief Minister said that he was upset with Sridhar Babu over the Assembly secretariat circulating a two-page “report on the decisions of the Business Advisory Committee” taken on December 17 to all MLAs. The report was issued in the name of the Chief Minister who, at a media conference, had feigned ignorance.
The Chief Minister’s decision is expected to evoke sharp criticism from within the Congress and outside and the Telangana ministers were already up in arms against the decision.
Senior Congress leader D. Srinivas described the Chief Minister’s decision as undemocratic and a timid act while Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao refused to attach any significance to it stating that proceedings in the Assembly were irrelevant to the state’s division as per the Constitution.
