Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy's defiance seems to be working well for the Congress in Seemandhra, a reason sufficient for party leaders to keep silent, though he has openly criticised them and staged a dharna at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. B Dasarath Reddy reports
Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh on Thursday. No other member of his cabinet took the oath as he will finalise his team after meeting party president Sonia Gandhi and other central ministers.
The Andhra Pradesh chief minister has just witnessed his state's division and the idea of leaving the Congress to launch a regional party might leave him with nothing, says Aditi Phadnis
Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy, who will be listed in the history as the last chief minister of an "undivided" Andhra Pradesh, is likely to drop his plans to float a new political party.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy has said that providing an efficient, clean and transparent governance and improving the delivery mechanism for the benefit of the poor will be among his top priorities.
A legislator from his native Chittoor district in the Rayalaseema region of the state, 50-year-old Reddy will have to also use all his political acumen to take on the challenge posed by Congress' rebel Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy.
From being the hand-picked choice of Sonia Gandhi as Andhra Pradesh chief minister to sitting on a dharna in Delhi against division of the state, Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy has turned from a Congress regional leader to a disgruntled rebel in his nearly 39-month tumultuous tenure.
Lagadapati Rajagopal, now being referred to as the 'pepper spray member of Parliament', is holding talks with Andhra Pradesh's caretaker Chief Minister Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy about floating a new political party.