New Delhi/Hyderabad, Sep 9 (Inditop.com) Hectic lobbying is on for the post of Andhra Pradesh chief minister as the Congress leadership continued its consultations with party MPs and senior leaders Wednesday to find a successor to Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy who was killed in a helicopter crash last week.
The late chief minister’s close friend and advisor K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi Wednesday and stated that the leadership would take an appropriate decision at an appropriate time.
A day after meeting Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Rao met party general secretary in-charge of Andhra Pradesh M. Veerappa Moily and later called on the prime minister while several MPs met Gandhi to press their demand that YSR’s son Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy be made chief minister.
Continuing its pressure on the central leadership, the ‘pro-Jagan’ lobby in the ruling party is holding demonstrations and hunger strikes in parts of the state.
“The prime minister and the high command are well informed. I need not inform them,” was all Ramachandra Rao said when asked if he brought to the knowledge of Manmohan Singh and other leaders that a majority of party legislators want Jagan, an MP, as chief minister.
“I have full confidence that the high command will take an appropriate decision at an appropriate time,” said the Rajya Sabha member.
Gandhi continued the process of consultations with party MPs and senior leaders. Former central minister Renuka Chowdary and about a dozen MPs called on her Wednesday and held separate meetings.
K. Sambasiva Rao and R. Sambasiva Rao, who were among the MPs who met Gandhi, told reporters that they conveyed to the party president that Jagan alone could carry forward the vision of YSR. They hoped that the party would take a decision in a couple of days.
YSR and four others with him were killed when a helicopter carrying them from Hyderabad to Chittoor district Sep 2 crashed in the dense Nallamalla forests in Kurnool district.
