The ministers put chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy in such a spot that he had to rush to the party high command and ask it to bail him out.
The Congress high command has managed to quell a revolt by a dozen newly-appointed ministers in Andhra Pradesh who were unhappy with portfolio allocation and predominance of Reddys in the cabinet.
The ministers put chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy in such a spot that he had to rush to the party high command and ask it to bail him out. It was only after the intervention of Ghulam Nabi Azad and state Congress in-charge Veerappa Moily that the disgruntled ministers softened their stand, with a rider that the ministries would have to be recast soon.
Within two hours after the allocation of the portfolios late on Wednesday night, about 12 ministers threatened to quit their posts and their assembly seats because of the way the ministries had been allotted. Vatti Vasanta Kumar made the first move at 11.30 pm on Wednesday, by sending his resignation to chief minister Kiran Reddy. Within minutes, other senior ministers met at the minister’s quarters to take a final decision on their continuance.
Shaken at the development, Kiran Reddy got the new finance minister, Anam Ramanarayan Reddy, to talk to the rebels. “At a point, Kiran Reddy wanted some of the ministers to come to his residence to discuss the issue. But they refused to do so and threatened that the issue would be taken up at the cabinet meeting on Friday,” a source privy to the developments said. The new cabinet was to meet on Friday for the first time.
Ahead of the meeting, Kiran Reddy sought the high command’s help to pacify the ministers. After which, the high command’s emissaries spoke to the ministers and promised that the issue would be looked into positively. “We were never disgruntled. We were questioning the deviation from the expected social balance in the new cabinet. The issue is more about equity than about a particular minister not getting a specific portfolio,” B Satyanarayana, the new transport minister said. A strong man from northern coastal Andhra, Satyanarayana had been handling several key portfolios (housing, marketing and industries) in earlier regimes. Despite the promise from the high command, tourism minister V Vasnta Kumar put in his papers. He also stayed away from the cabinet meeting.
The rebels are angry that the new cabinet has more ministers from the Reddy community. Of the 40 ministers, including the chief minister, 14 are Reddys. While there are 10 ministers from the backward classes, six are from Scheduled Castes, two from Scheduled Tribes, three Kapus and one each from Vaisya, minority, Kamma, Brahmin and Velama communities.
“The problem is that Reddys continue to dominate,” another disgruntled minister, who is waiting for the recast, said. The Congress has included more Reddys because it wants to ensure that Jaganmohan Reddy does not use his clout in the community to strengthen his new political outfit.
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