AP: Anxiety level soars among cabinet aspirants

HYDERABAD: Anxiety levels rose among cabinet aspirants in the Congress and erstwhile PRP as chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy landed in New Delhi Tuesday for consultations with the high command on cabinet expansion.At the same time, gnawing tension gripped those ministers who have been tipped for the chop.Kiran Kumar Reddy is reportedly opposed to a mere induction of erstwhile Praja Rajyam members into the cabinet and is said to be lobbying for a total reconstitution.One question being debated in party circles is whether the chief minister will insinuate to the high command that his government is better off without PCC chief Botcha Satyanarayana moonlighting as transport minister as well.Opinion in these circles is that he is discomfited by Botcha's double responsibiliites and would like him to be divested of the ministry.Also, Kiran Reddy is said to want to sack some ministers who have made it difficult to function.Chiefly, these are said to be D L Ravindra Reddy and P Shankar Rao apart from a few others.Considering that he has only now begun to assert himself, it would be a surprise if he gets it all his way.Botcha too his in Delhi, lobbying to keep his two posts and include some aspirants of his choice in the cabinet.Apart from these big two of the Congress government, several ministers, notably Anam Ramnarayana Reddy, deputy speaker Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, government whip Kondru Murali and several ML As and ML Cs are also in Delhi to press their own cases.Congress circles expect that the suspense would continue on Wednesday when the CM is scheduled to meet AICC president Sonia Gandhi and other senior party leaders.Earlier on Tuesday, several players in the game made a beeline to the chief minister camp office at Begumpet to protect or press their interests.These included ministers Y Pratap Reddy, K Parthasarathi, Sabita Indra Reddy, Pitani Satyanarayana, Basavaraju Saraiah, Ramreddy Venkata Reddy -- all keen to remain ministrs.One surprise visitor was former minister Y S Vivekananda Reddy.Congress MLA G Venkataramana Reddy, erstwhile PRP ML As Bandaru Satyananda Rao, Vanga Geeta were among the others who met the chief minister.In the PRP camp, Chiranjeevi continued to press for the induction of his choices, Ganta Srinivas Rao and C Ramachandraiah, an ML C, on Jan.19, said to be an auspicious day.Several Congress ML Cs wrote a letter to the party high command stating that if the party took Ramchandraiah into the cabinet, then it should also consider their cases too.Some ML Cs also reached Delhi to make a more sharper point.