HYDERABAD/NEW DELHI: After a chastisement by the Congress high command, PCC president Botcha Satyanarayana on Thursday denied having any differences with chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy and made it clear he had no objection to the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) probe into bribery by liquor syndicates in the state.“If I don’t meet the chief minister for one day, does it mean there are differences between us? If we go in the same car, does it mean there were no differences between us,” he asked in his characteristic roundabout way.The PCC chief said the meetings he, the chief minister and deputy chief minister Damodar Rajanarasimha had with AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad centred around plans for the forthcoming byelections to 18 Assembly segments. “All the three of us are leaders in our own right. The party leadership has given us specific roles to face the elections. We will do as asked,” he told reporters in New Delhi.Consequent upon these confabulations, measures will be taken to the shore up the party, including appointments to party posts to keep leaders and workers in good humour.The PCC chief and chief minister met Azad again Thursday morning. It is learnt that they were asked to spare no effort to win as many of the byelections as possible. Satyanarayana did not commit himself to a number, nor say who would take the responsibility for any reverses. “These are not the general elections nor even mid-term elections. These are byelections forced by a person who wants to gain political muscle to fight the investigation into his riches,” Satyanarayana said. “Even if Jagan Mohan Reddy wins a few seats, it will not absolve him of the charge that he misused his father’s power to build a financial empire.”Asked if he thought the Y S Rajasekhara Reddy government was corrupt, the PCC chief said he would not agree with that contention. The cabinet was responsible for the decisions of the government. What happened behind the scenes after the decisions had little to do with members of the cabinet unless a minister was also involved, he said.Asked about the prospects of Congress, the PCC chief said he would take responsibility if anything went wrong but not he alone, since other leaders too have been entrusted roles in the bypoll strategy. Asked why he was not as confident as Jagan on the byelections, he sparred: “I too can say the Congress will win all the seats, where would that get you?”
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