Congress General Secretary and In-Charge of Party Affairs in Andhra Pradesh M Veerappa Moily on Thursday hinted that there would be a Deputy Chief Minister from the Telangana religion.
Talking to media persons at the Lake View Guest House before the swearing-in ceremony of N Kiran Kumar Reddy as Chief Minister, Mr Moily stated the High Command would take a decision on offering Deputy Chief Minister’s post to a candidate from the Backward Community in Telangana region.
As soon as Mr Moily’s made his statement, the names of J Geeta Reddy and Ponnala Lakshmaiah, two of the senior Ministers started doing rounds among media circles as the top contenders for the job.
If and when someone is sworn in as the Deputy Chief Minister, it would be after a gap of more than two decades that Andhra Pradesh will have someone in the post.
According to highly-placed sources, the High Command has taken this decision keeping in mind the likelihood of the Telangana statehood movement intensifying from December onwards, before and after the submission of the Justice B N Srikrishna Committee report.
Mr Moily and another Central observer Ghulam Nabi Azad on Thursday elicited the views of a cross section of party leaders on choosing the Deputy Chief Minister. They also met Mr Lakshmaiah and Pradesh Congress Committee president D Srinivas in this regard.
Leaders from Telangana region have been seeking the Deputy Chief Minister's post since a long time, with the demand increasing in intensity in the wake of the separate Telangana agitation.
As per the Gentlemen's Agreement at the time of formation of Andhra Pradesh in 1956, the Deputy Chief Minister should be from Telangana if the Chief Minister is from any of the other two regions.
KV Ranga Reddy became the first deputy chief minister in 1960. JV Narasing Rao, BV Subba Reddy and C Jagannadha Rao were the other former deputy chief ministers.
However, this practice was discontinued in the 1970s, seen as a violation of the Gentlemen's Agreement.
Though Mr Koneru Ranga Rao served as deputy chief minister during the 1980s, the arrangement was not made under Gentleman's Agreement.
Mr Koneru Ranga Rao was from the Andhra region while then chief minister K Vijayabhaskar Reddy was from Rayalaseema.