Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy has decided to seek R&B minister Dharmana Prasada Rao's “views” on CBI’s request for sanction to prosecute him for the role in issuing government orders on the Vanpic project, it is learnt. Since there is no specific laid-down procedure in business rules that govern Cabinet ministers and their functioning, Mr Reddy is setting a precedent in getting views of the minister concerned. The CM, in this instance, is following the procedure already adopted in cases where the CBI sought nod for prosecution of IAS officials.
Incidentally, this is the first time in the state’s history that the CBI has sought permission to prosecute a minister. Mr Reddy is learnt to have had a detailed discussion on the issue on Sunday with AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad. Mr Rao also met Mr Azad on Sunday and is learnt to have submitted a note, elucidating his point of view on the issues raised by CBI in the chargesheet filed against him.
According to sources, the CM’s latest move is an effort to buy time and delay a decision till the CBI court takes the chargesheet on record. Mr Rao is not attending to his duties, and has been absent from even Cabinet meetings, since giving in his resignation. According to sources, the minister has sought the Congress high command’s intervention to get the CM to reject his resignation. But Mr Reddy is learnt to be of the opinion that it would be inappropriate to reject the resignation, as the minister had declared that he had resigned on moral grounds and he would come out clean.
Sources said Mr Reddy feels he cannot reject the resignation till Mr Rao gets some sort of legal relief and has decided to drag the issue further in the interim. It is still not clear whether the minister will skip the forthcoming Assembly session.