The issue of inducting members of Praja Rajyam into the state Cabinet came to the fore on Wednesday with the Congress central leadership summoning chief minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy to New Delhi.
Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy will meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday and explain his reasons for keeping the Cabinet revamp on hold till the completion of by-polls and local body polls in the state.
Praja Rajyam chief Chiranjeevi has been asking the Congress leadership to include at least two of his legislators — C. Ramachandraiah and Ganta Srinivasa Rao — into the Cabinet immediately and it seems that both the Congress central leadership and PCC president Botsa Satyanarayana have agreed for the inclusion of the PR legislators without waiting for a total Cabinet revamp.
The chief minister, however, was of the opinion that in view of impending elections of municipalities, cooperatives, Rajya Sabha and the upcoming bypolls to several Assembly segments, it was not advisable to go in for a total Cabinet revamp or include only PR MLAs at this stage. He felt that disappointed Cabinet aspirants of the Congress might try to damage the party’s prospects in the polls if the reshuffle was brought about now.
However, the Congress central leadership is apparently insisting that he at least induct the PR MLAs for now and defer the total Cabinet revamp.