Rosaiah was waiting to go

 Party bosses wanted a leader capable of handling the aftershocks of Krishna Committee effectively, while also manage to keep the unit together in the wake of the threats posed by Y S Jaganmohan reddy.

Rosaiah could never erase the impression that he was only a stop-gap arrangement in spite of his 14 months and 21 days in the hot seat. Though he took over on September 3, 2009 after the  mangled body of former chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy was discovered in the Nallamala forest  region near Kurnool  , he kept away from the official CM's block  in the secretariat   and also  the Chief Ministers Official bungalow and camp office for nearly six months  anticipating a replacement.

He eventually entered the CM's chambers in secretariat after four months and took a further four months to occupy the Camp office, while also allowing Jaganmohan Reddy to stay put in the CM's Official residence at Begumpet till March 2010.

Announcing his resignation to the gathering reporters at the C block conference hall on Wednesday, Rosaiah mentioned that he had "nothing to regret " as his  assignment was to "hold the party and government together till the high command took a decision on AP ".

The chief minister had often narrated in private circles of his harrowing exasperation of how the ministers and also officials defied him. " Files do not come to me, officials do not bother to inform me of updates "he had lamented. For their part, officials had their own predicament: "Rosaiah hardly can write any notes on files and all we get is a nod or verbal instruction ".

Sources in the political circles say that Rosaiah's clumsy handling of the Sub Inspector recruitment recently was the last nail over the coffin for the veteran leader. Despite a long list of medical complaints -a bypass surgery, hard of hearing and acute joint and muscular pains, the six-foot-tall leader always appeared a cut above the rest on important occasions.

For the past four months at least, Rosaiah barely concealed his irritation and appeared ill at ease at the helm. Much of it was caused by Rosaiah's inability to pick his own team or bureaucrats. He had to carry on the burden of a borrowed cabinet and also a borrowed team of secretaries and advisors in the CMO for much of his tenure. When he eventually decided to make changes, a disgruntled retired IAS officer resigned unable to face the axe.

Congress circles commented that even the ample blessings of Sathya saibaba proved inadequate to let Rosaiah save his position, while his counterpart from Karnataka who was at Puttaparthi on the same day as himself could somehow hold on to his seat.

Rosaiah seem to have had an inkling of what was to come as he frantically waved the 'loyalty card' ever since a website reported that he could be made governor of Karnataka or Rajasthan once he vacates the chief minister's position in Hyderabad.