Colleagues defy Kiran
In an unprecedented move, five ministers of the Kiran Kumar Reddy government in Andra Pradesh on Wednesday openly differed with the Chief Minister in a public forum, leaving him red faced.
The first ever collector’s conference, which Kiran has convened nearly a year after he assumed office in the state, saw YSR loyalists pouncing on Kiran in public, raising questions on some of the programmes he has launched.
“Where are the 15 lakh jobs for Rajiv Yuva Kiranalu programme? How can the Indira Jalaprabha be successful? The programs like Rs 1 per kg rice, power cuts?” asked the YSR loyalists.
This came after Kiran had asked the collectors to provide details on how the money in the Jalayagnam programme was spent and acreage added to ayacut. The Chief Minister’s move is said to be an indirect attack on Jalayagnam, which was launched by YSR and used for quid pro quo corruption and exploited by his son Y S Jaganmohan Reddy. Another minister questioned the Chief Ministers fiat on Indiramma housing scheme on which a probe had been ordered and bills had been kept pending for over four months .
“Collectors say only finance and revenue ministers are cabinet members. Are we not in cabinet? The Mid-day meal scheme has gone worse as ground realities show that it is only 30 percent in operation as against 97 percent shown in government books,”Primary Health Minister Parthasarathy said.
