Andhra Pradesh cabinet ministers from the Telangana region Wednesday complained to the governor against the chief minister for divesting their colleague D. Sridhar Babu of the legislative affairs portfolio.
The ministers from Telangana said Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy's decision was undemocratic and an insult to the people of Telangana. They also termed it as a part of the conspiracy to stall the formation of a separate Telangana state.
They told Governor E. S. L. Narasimhan that the chief minister took away the key portfolio from the civil supplies minister at a time when the state assembly is to debate the bill for formation of Telangana state from Jan 3.
Panchayat Raj Minister K. Jana Reddy told reporters after meeting the governor at Raj Bhavan that they would bring the chief minister's conduct to Congress leadership's notice.
He appealed to the Telangana people to be patient in view of the debate in the assembly.
"We will respond suitably after reaching our goal," he said. The ministers would meet in two to three days to chalk out their future course of action.
Those who met the governor include Sridhar Babu, Ponnala Lakshmaiah and Sudershan Reddy.
Sridhar Babu made it clear that he would not accept commercial taxes portfolio allotted to him by the chief minister. The minister said he acted in a responsible manner when the bill was tabled in the house last month. He said people knew why the chief minister changed his portfolio.
Sridhar Babu, however, said he would go by the direction of the party's central leadership.
In a controversial move late Tuesday, Kiran Reddy, who is opposed to the state's bifurcation, took away the legislative affairs portfolio from Sridhar Babu and allotted it to Primary Education Minister S. Sailajanath, who is also a staunch integrationist.
Finance Minister Anam Ramnarayan Reddy, who is from Seemandhra, defended the chief minister's action saying changing the portfolios of ministers was his prerogative. He told reporters after meeting the governor that the chief minister took the decision after considering all aspects.
