The much-talked resignations episode by four ministers from Seemandhra in support of united Andhra ended as a damp squib.
Of the four ministers – Ganta Srinivasa Rao, Erasu Pratap Reddy, Pinipe Viswaroop and Kasu Venkata Krishna Reddy – who had earlier decided to quit their posts, only Ganta and Erasu met the governor ESL Narasimhan on Monday and requested him to accept their resignations, which are lying on the table of the chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy.
But, according to Ganta, the governor told the duo that he could only endorse their resignations when the chief minister forwards them to him and recommends him to accept them.
Ganta said, “Earlier, when we had met the chief minister, we asked him to accept our resignations as people of our region have been on the roads for the past one month in protest against proposed bifurcation of the state. But, the chief minister told us to wait for some more days as he was going to Delhi in the next three days to hold talks with the party leadership.”
Meanwhile, Viswaroop and Kasu put off their decision to quit their posts as per the advice of the chief minister.
On the other hand, three senior ministers from Seemandhra – N Raghuveera Reddy, Anam Ramanarayana Reddy and Vatti Vasanth Kumar – opposed the very decision of Ganta and Erasu to quit their posts.
“If we resign from the Cabinet, President’s rule will be imposed in the state. Then, how can we protect the interests of our region? How can we defeat the T-resolution in the Assembly?” Raghuveera questioned the scribes while addressing a press conference here on Monday.
The minister, who a week ago had visited Delhi and met his party bosses there along with Ramanarayana Reddy, exuded confidence that their high command would address all the concerns of Seemandhra people before taking forward the process of bifurcation of AP.
“We have been exerting pressure on our party high command to persuade it not to go with its decision to bifurcate AP. We are still confident that we will be successful to make our party leadership address the concerns of the Seemandhra,” he said.
Meanwhile Kiran’s close aide and minister Kondru Murali Mohan on Monday demanded if bifurcation of AP was imminent, then Visakhapatnam be made capital of Andhra state.
“Otherwise, north Andhra should be merged with the proposed Telangana state so that North Andhra people would get a chance to avail employment and educational opportunities in Hyderabad,” he said.
Courtesy: The New Indian Express