Kiran's father favoured undivided AP

An emotional reason and not just the worries about political fortune in a divided Andhra Pradesh could be the reason behind Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy opposing bifurcation of the state.

His late father, Nallari Amarnath Reddy, a close confidant of Indira Gandhi and a minister in the P V Narasimha Rao government, was a staunch supporter of a united Andhra.

Though in public, Reddy has dismissed any suggestion of quitting the chief minister’s post in the wake of forming a separate Telangana, close aides say that he feels that he cannot continue. “I will not be party to any destructive decision,” Reddy reportedly told the top brass of the Congress earlier this month. He even threatened to quit after his request for at least postponing the decision on Telangana till the local body elections was turned down.

Reddy is elected from the Chittoor Assembly constituency which is in the Rayalaseema region. Not only Reddy, but several senior Congressmen from the state, including Union Human Resource Development Minister M Pallam Raju, also are against the creation of a separate state.

On Reddy, Congress spokesperson Renuka Chowdhary said the “wild, distorted news of his resignation is” being put out without substantiating it.

Renuka added: “He (Reddy) is a very obedient soldier of the party. He merely expressed his opinion about the ground reality and his personal emotional pain. He is a Congressman and there is no doubt despite his personal opinion, if the high command takes a stand regarding some issue, he will stand by it.”