Hyderabad:
Andhra Pradesh Women and Child Welfare Minister Konda Surekha has resigned from the Cabinet in support of YSR Reddy's son, Jaganmohan Reddy. Her resignation has been accepted by Chief Minister K Rosaiah, who said, "She didn't submit the resignation to me... where is the question of convincing her to stay on?"
The first-time minister had submitted her resignation to state governor N.D.Tiwari on Thursday evening. Surekha was among the ministers and MLAs who were very vocal in proposing the name of YSR's son, Jaganmohan Reddy, to succeed his father, and had said she would quit if that did not happen.
Whether Jaganmohan Reddy will take over as chief minister has been a key issue for the Andhra Congress. When YSR died, the Congress appointed K Rosaiah the new chief minister of Andhra Pradesh. The party's high command reportedly believes that Jaganmohan, a first-time MP, does not have enough political experience to take over as chief minister.
On October 22, Jaganmohan reportedly discussed the issue with Congress president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi.
After his one-hour meeting with the party president, Jaganmohan had said, "I have been assured that my interests will be looked into, I will strengthen the party and I am with Sonia Gandhi and the party."