Kiran Reddy may make common cause with Oppn on AP

After a day-long brain storming session with his Seemandhra cabinet colleagues at his camp office,  Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, who is championing the cause of united Andhra Pradesh, drew up a strategy to be followed against the bifurcation in the Assembly.

Sources said that Seeman­dhra ministers have dissuaded the chief minister who wanted to quit, not to take any hasty step as the Telangana draft bill will come to the Assembly and his absence could we­aken th­eir position.

Despite his readiness to ‘quit’ from the post, his close aides and supporters ha­ve reportedly prevailed upon Kiran Reddy not to take a ha­sty step. “After po­ndering over several options, we decided to oppose the st­ate’s bifurcation, and resignations enmasse at this stage is not an option,” a Seemandhra minister said.

The meeting, which went on late into the night, finally de­cided to contact TDP and YSRC for help in opp­o­s­ing the draft bill when it co­m­es up for discussion in the Ass­e­mbly’s winter session be­­­g­inning Dec­ember 12. “We have entrusted that task to se­nior Seem­an­d­h­ra ministers Ga­nta and Anam Ramna­ra­y­an Reddy. They will contact the two Opp­osition parties to ensure that  almost all the Seemandhra MLAs,  irrespective of party af­filiation, will oppose the bill in one vo­i­ce,” minister S Sailajanath said.

“We are pained as the Centre is ignoring the plight of Seemandhra people who have been agitating for more than three months against the bifurcation. We are for a united Andhra Pradesh and we will use every opportunity to stall the bifurcation, minister T G Venkatesh from Rayalaseema region said.