Andhra Pradesh chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy’s conspicuous absence at the press conference of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has more than what meets the eye. Mr Reddy and Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh reportedly had a verbal duel during Mr Gandhi’s interaction with Congress chief ministers. When Mr Gandhi had asked Mr Reddy as to how long it would take for him to constitute the lokayukta in his state, the Andhra chief minister had reportedly confessed to his inability in putting the ombudsman in place in view of the Telangana agitation rocking the state.
Mr Ramesh at this point had intervened and asked Mr Reddy to follow the diktat of Mr Gandhi to which the angry Andhra chief minister shot back, saying that Mr Ramesh being a Union minister should be aware of the difficulties of an administrator when the entire state is in the midst of a turmoil.
He also accused Mr Ramesh of having held up clearances to many projects related to Andhra Pradesh during his tenure at the environment ministry despite repeated requests.
AP CM has made all political and administrative decisions despite the agitations in State, including sanctioning huge funds for Chittoor, but blames the agitations for not constituting the Lokayukta in AP! Opportunistic politics.