“Star batsman” N. Kiran Kumar Reddy has turned into a fight master. The Chief Minister wants to be the lone champion of Samaikyandhra and to fight the satraps in Delhi single-handedly. In the past, he has fought with Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan in the matter of the appointments of right to information commissioners.
He is fighting the Congress high command after it decided to divide the state. He also fights with the Group of Ministers on the same issue. Most recently, he picked a fight with Assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar in the matter of proroguing the Assembly. Politically he is at loggerheads with Telugu Desam chief N. Chandrababu Naidu and YSR Congress chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Vijayawada Congress MP Lagadapati Rajgopal describes the CM very often as a “star batsman” in the Samaikyandhra agitation. The Chief Minister also said recently in an interview that the game will not be over till the last ball is bowled. Well, Kiran better keep his eye on the ball and stop picking so many fights or he might be bowled a googly.
Back to school, in England for Jaju
IT secretary Sanjay Jaju will soon be leaving for England for training.
As part of the in-service training, the Department of Personnel and Training arranges training abroad and the facility has been eluding Jaju as the training for his batch was postponed earlier.
This time he is lucky and in February 2014, he will be having a short stint at Duke University.
PM comes to babus’ help
Unbelievable as it may sound, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is of great help to a few bureaucrats in the state who are doing the rounds of criminal courts whenever the charge sheets against them filed by the CBI in the Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy case come up for hearing.
The other day, Dr Singh found fault with the CBI for treating decisions that are within the framework of the law and existing rules as motivated and part of quid pro quo. In several cases involving state babus in CBI cases, the decisions are in accordance with the rule book.
A senior babu is discussing with his legal counsel the possibilities of filing PM’s statement as an additional affidavit in support of their argument.
Kanna caught in the race for CM’s post
State agriculture mi-nister Kanna Laxmi Narayana is an embarrassed man. He met AICC president Sonia Gandhi in Delhi amidst a blaze of publicity that suggested he was going to be the next Chief Minister.
Of course, he denied the speculation and said that he is not in the race for the Chief Minister’s post. Recently, Kiran , Kanna Laxmi Narayana and social welfare minister Pitani Satyanarayana attended a Rachchabanda, the state government’s ongoing mass contact programme, in West Godavari district.
The meeting was presided over by Pitani Satyanarayana, who is very close to the Chief Minister.
He sarcastically referred to Kanna in his public address as “another Chief Minister”. Enthusiastic followers of Kanna in Guntur town took up the refrain in all seriousness. They have put up big flex-boards and banners saying: ‘Coming soon, CM Kanna Laxmi Narayana’ and ‘Future Chief Minister Kanna’.
Merit worked for Madabhushi
Babus are shocked at a recent development involving journalist-cum-academician Madabhushi Sridhar who has been appointed Central Information Commissioner.
They are not able to digest a self-made man getting elevated to a position that many bureaucrats consider is a post-retirement rehabilitation centre.
True to their feelings, the state also filled the posts with several retired bureaucrats. Perhaps the Centre goes by merit unlike the state government.
Secret channel of Speakers
Differences between Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy and Assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar have become quite glaring. This is not unusual in the history of these posts.
Marri Chenna Reddy vs P. Ramachandra Reddy, T. Anjiah vs Kona Prabhakar Rao, N.T. Rama Rao vs G. Narayana Rao — the jousting was ever-present. The current Speaker has been maintaining a separate channel with Congress bosses in Delhi.
He cannot be strictly faulted for this, since the high command, too, wanted such as channel. Even when Kiran was Speaker and Rosaiah was the Chief Minister, Kiran used to maintain a separate network with the high command, which ultimately landed him in the CM’s chair. The irony is that Kiran is now finding fault with Manohar for continuing the tradition.
