Hyderabad:
Amid roses for the New Year, came some barbs for beleaguered Andhra Pradesh chief minister K Rosaiah. A minister from Telangana has raised questions about his integrity and asked whether he is the chief minister of the entire Andhra Pradesh or only of non-Telangana regions.
In what is not likely to go down well within the party, Rosaiah's sports and information technology minister K Venkat Reddy on Friday accused his boss of being anti-Telangana and behaving like the chief minister of just the coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions. `I am requesting the chief minister to be chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, at least till we get divided. Why didn't you speak about industry leaving the state when the Unified Andhra agitation was going on?'' he asked.
Venkat Reddy has refused to withdraw his resignation even after other Telangana ministers said they were withdrawing their joint resignation letter following the Centre's latest initiative for talks on Telangana this week.
Political observers say the salvo fired by the Information technology and sports minister is not only an unsporting gesture, but also a disconnect from the concept of collective cabinet responsibility.
The state's Agriculture Minister, Raghuveera Reddy, said: ``Better he go immediately and meet the CM. This is very indisciplined. We being in the cabinet are really ashamed of such words being spoken about the CM.''
Publicly at least, Rosaiah has chosen to be philosophical about the challenge to his authority. ``Today I am chief minister for all the people in Andhra Pradesh,'' he said.
Congress circles say Venkat Reddy's remarks are not likely to be taken lightly and he may well find himself logged out of power.
PTI adds: Andhra Minister issued showcause notice
Cracking the whip, the Congress High Command on Friday issued a show-cause notice to rebel Andhra Pradesh Minister from Telangana K Venkata Reddy, who raised a storm by attacking Chief Minister K Rosaiah, for "deliberately lowering the party's prestige".
Two party MPs -- one each from Telangana and Andhra Regions - are also likely to be issued show-cause notices, highly-placed Congress sources said late tonight. Their names, however, could not be ascertained as yet.
The notice to Reddy was issued by AICC General Secretary Janardhan Dwivedi, who is in-charge of organisational affairs, after he received a report from M Veerappa Moily, in-charge of party affairs in Andhra Pradesh.
In the notice, Reddy, who has also reportedly refused to take back his resignation submitted to party chief Sonia Gandhi, has been charged with "deliberately lowering the prestige of the party".
Dwivedi has given 7 days time for Reddy to reply. Reddy had yesterday hit out at Rosaiah over his comments that Naxalites were involved in the statehood movement, saying his remarks were affecting the bifurcation of the state.
"It is not proper for the Chief Minister and DGP to say that Naxalites and ex-Naxalites have joined the Telangana movement in full force. He should not try to scuttle the formation of Telangana by sending reports to the Centre or by speaking to the media like this," he had said.