Hyderabad: The sudden decision of Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy to postpone his meeting with the Group of Ministers on Telangana, scheduled for Thursday night, created a flutter in political circles. Speculation was rife that he was about to resign and that the Congress high command was searching for a replacement.
However, the CM told the media at Ravindra Bharathi on Thursday that he had postponed the GoM meeting because he had to be present at the inauguration of the International Children's Film Festival on Thursday evening, and will be attending the GoM meeting on November 18. Asked about his resignation, the Chief Minister laughed loudly and moved on.
To quell the speculations about his rescheduling the GoM meeting, the Chief Minister’s Office took the unusual step of putting out a press release explaining the reason.
What is curious is that since the Chief Minister was aware of the programme in the city on Thursday, why did he not inform the Union home minister yesterday when the latter contacted him on the telephone?
‘CM’s channel’ creates a sensation
A Telugu news channel, whose owners are said to be close to Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy’s brother, Nallari Santosh Kumar Reddy, created a sensation on Thursday morning when it aired a special news bulletin stating that Kiran Kumar Reddy is to be replaced as Chief Minister by Kanna Laxminarayana, the current agriculture minister of the state.
The news cast said Kiran Kumar Reddy was being shown the door because he was committed to a united state.
The channel, popular as Chief Minister’s official channel in the political circles, its Editorial Team has been specifically asked by some persons close to Santosh Kumar Reddy to air bullet-ins stating that Kiran Kumar Reddy decided to defy the Congress high command and refused to go to Delhi.
The channel also reported that Laxminarayana had a meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Delhi recently and that he has agreed to implement the agenda of the party’s central leadership and ensure that the Telangana Bill is passed in the state Assembly without a hitch.
Reactions were taken from the public on the replacement and all supported the Chief Minister and resented the move to replace him.
