Kiran Reddy takes charge, to have a deputy from Telangana

NEW DELHI: Kiran Kumar Reddy, a YS Rajasekhar Reddy loyalist and former assembly speaker, was sworn in as the new chief minister of Andhra Pradesh on Thursday.

Governor E S L Narasimhan administered the oath of office and secrecy to 50-year-old cricketer-turned-politician.
After the Congress high command chose him to succeed K Rosaiah he was on Wednesday night elected leader of Congress Legislature Party. The party’s decision to choose Kiran Reddy to lead the government is seen as a move to contain Jaganmohan Reddy’s rebellion and to deal with the crisis over Telangana.

The Congress high command will also select a deputy chief minister. The post is set to go to a leader from the Telangana region. The names of information minister J Geeta Reddy, irrigation minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah and warehousing minister C Damodar Raja Narsimha are under consideration.

The post of deputy chief minister is being revived after over two decades as it feels that it could help it to beat the heat over Telangana. When Andhra Pradesh was formed in 1956, a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ was arrived at that if the chief minister was from Rayalseema or coastal Andhra, Telangana would get a deputy chief minister.

Last year, within months of Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s death in a helicopter crash, the demand for a separate Telangana had gained momentum after a students’ movement. The Centre was forced to form a time-bound committee under Justice Srikrishna to examine the demand. Though the panel is unlikely to recommend a single solution, but place options before the Centre, the party is nervous. It fears that the situation could become unwieldy if there is not a strong leader in the state.