Andhra CM to visit Delhi to discuss tainted ministers

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy goes to New Delhi later Wednesday amid dissidence and increasing demands within the Congress party to drop tainted ministers.

He is likely to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi, party general secretary in-charge of Andhra Pradesh Ghulam Nabi Azad and other leaders to discuss issues facing the party and the government, party sources said.

A section of ministers, including state Congress chief Botsa Satyanarayana, held a series of meetings during last few days and reportedly complained to the leadership about the unilateral decisions being taken by the chief minister.

Health Minister D.L. Ravindra Reddy is learnt to have openly criticised the chief minister for announcing welfare schemes without discussing them in the cabinet.

Kiran Reddy was to leave for Delhi last week but the visit was postponed as the Congress leadership was busy with election results and selection of the new chief minister in Karnataka.

His visit to the national capital assumes significance in view of Revenue Minister D.L. Ravindra Reddy's meeting with central leaders in Delhi on Monday. He had said after the meetings that the leadership would soon set right affairs in the state.

The pressure is also on the chief minister to drop Home Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy and Roads and Buildings Minister Dharmana Prasada Rao, named as accused by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the chargesheets filed in the case related to YSR Congress party leader Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy's illegal assets. Senior leaders like V. Hanumantha Rao have already demanded that Kiran Reddy drop the ministers.

The demand picked up momentum after two central ministers Pawan Kumar Bansal and Ashwini Kumar resigned last week following allegations against them. Congress MP R. Sambasiva Rao Wednesday said the central leadership would take a decision on tainted ministers.