Hyderabad, Sep 7 (Inditop.com) The Congress central leadership is likely to send senior leaders Pranab Mukherjee, M. Veerappa Moily and Digvijay Singh here Sep 10 as part of its efforts to find a successor to late Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, who died in a helicopter crash last week.
According to sources in the ruling party, the three senior leaders will arrive a day after the seven-day mourning period is over.
The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) will meet any day after Sep 10 to choose the new leader. The central leaders may attend the meeting to oversee and ensure smooth election of the new leader.
A party source in Delhi said: “The committee (of Mukherjee, Moily and Singh) will study the political situation in the state after the seven-day mourning period. Then, the date for the CLP meeting will be fixed.”
The seven-day mourning period for YSR ends Wednesday.
YSR’s son Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy appears to be the front-runner for the chief minister’s post. Acting Chief Minister K. Rosaiah, state Congress president D. Srinivas and union minister Jaipal Reddy are the other likely contenders.
YSR’s long-time friend and Rajya Sabha member K.V.P. Ramchandra Rao is leaving for Delhi Monday evening to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi and other leaders. He is likely to apprise them of the sentiments of Jagan’s loyalists.
Ramchandra Rao Monday met ministers, legislators and MPs pitching for Jagan as the next chief minister.
The central leadership has begun the process to find a successor to YSR. A day after asking party leaders in the state not to air their views publicly on the leadership issue, the central leadership held informal consultations with some senior leaders in Delhi Monday.
Congress MP U. Arun Kumar, former president of the state Congress L.Keshava Rao, and senior leader and Rajya Sabha member V. Hanumantha Rao met party president Sonia Gandhi, party sources here said. They informed the party chief of their choice for the next chief minister.
Arun Kumar is considered a YSR loyalist while Keshava Rao has reportedly expressed his displeasure over the manner in which supporters of YSR’s son are pitching for him as the next leader.
Hanumantha Rao has taken the stand that the central leadership should take a decision on this.
Keshava Rao is learnt to have briefed Sonia Gandhi of Sunday’s incident at the party headquarters here when Jagan’s supporters disrupted an official condolence meeting and raised slogans against state Congress chief D. Srinivas.
At the intervention of the central leadership, Jagan issued an appeal to his followers to halt the campaign in his favour and advised them to wait for and abide by the high command’s decision.
It was also on the direction of the central leadership that all 34 ministers took oath afresh Sunday. Some ministers were reluctant to take oath to mount pressure on the party to name Jagan as the chief minister.
After Sonia Gandhi held talks with party general secretary in-charge of Andhra Pradesh affairs M. Veerappa Moily, Ramchandra Rao was asked to convey to the ministers that such pressure tactics would not work.
Though the high command had refused to discuss the issue of leadership till the seven-day mourning period is over Wednesday, Sunday’s developments forced it to start the process of addressing the issue on priority.
Meanwhile, senior leader and Rajya Sabha MP V. Hanumantha Rao has clarified that he was not in the race for the chief minister’s post. Rao told reporters in Delhi that it was not the time for demanding the post for a leader from backward classes.
Former chief minister N. Janardhan Reddy has backed Jagan’s candidature for the chief minister’s post. He advised the high command to consult K.V.P. Ramchandra Rao while deciding the next leader.
Former union minister and Congress Working Committee member G. Venkatswamy too wants Jagan to be made the next chief minister. “Jagan alone can carry on the policies of his father and he should get the opportunity,” said Venkatswamy.
