JC meets Rosaiah

Hyderabad, Oct 1 :

 Amidst heightened speculation of Cabinet expansion, former minister and senior Congress leader from Ananthapur district in the faction-ridden Rayalaseema region, Mr J C Diwakar Reddy, on Thursday morning met the Chief Minister, Mr K Rosaiah, at the latter’s residence.

Though Mr Diwakar Reddy has denied that he had any knowledge of the proposed Cabinet expansion, he could not give a convincing reply to the repeated queries from the media on what is the immediate provocation for him to meet the Chief Minister. “I have absolutely no knowledge about the Cabinet expansion or reshuffle. I came to know about the matter only through the media. My meeting with the Chief Minister was only a courtesy call,” he said.

He, however, failed to give proper replies to the media men when asked as to why he suddenly decided to meet the Chief Minister when the situation is so fluid in the State. But sources close to him say that he met the Chief Minister only to express his gratitude for having considered his name during the exercise. Mr Diwakar Reddy was closeted with Mr Rosaiah for about 15 minutes in the morning.

The name of Mr Diwakar Reddy is one among the probable MLAs doing rounds in the political circles to be inducted into the proposed Cabinet expansion. The other legislators whose names are in circulation to get berth in the likely expansion of the Ministry are: Mr Marri Sasidhar Reddy, the Sanathnagar MLA and son of former chief minister Marri Chenna Reddy, Mr Baswaraju Saraiah, the MLA from Warangal-1 and Mr Jana Reddy, the former Home minister.

Sources in the Congress circles believe that the Chief Minister is undertaking the exercise only to prove to his detractors that he is firmly in the saddle. Of late, Mr Rosaiah has been sending strong signals to those leaders opposing his appointment as the Chief Minister that he would slowly but steadily gaining strength both on the administration and on the party matters. He is even expected to move to the C-Block, the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) on October 5 and later to the Camp Office in Begumpet.