Short of raising a banner of revolt, Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy, MP, who claims the office of his late father (YSR), asserts he would become Chief Minister one day, maybe “one year or two years”, and adds for a good measure that the Congress President Ms. Sonia Gandhi fully knows “the mind of the people here” (his large group of loyalists). The High Command is firmly behind Mr. Rosaiah, selected by it after the death of Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.

“Jagan” for short seems clearly unreconciled to the advice of the Madam to gain experience - though what assignments she intends for him at present - is not clear. There was speculation he would be offered berth at the Centre or a leading party position in the State. Ms. Gandhi is also reportedly in favour of his mother standing for the Assembly constituency wherefrom the late Dr. Rajasekhara Reddy was elected. Mr. Rosaiah had meetings with the Congress President and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on November 7 and later Ms. Sonia also received 'Jagan” with his mother and sister. The meeting with Ms. Sonia Gandhi helped Mr. Rosaiah to consolidate himself and reconstitute his Cabinet for effective functioning in the near future, possibly after the Hyderabad elections.

Meanwhile, the Rosaiah Government is coming under pressure to cancel the mining leases in Anantpur (AP), allegedly misused by one of the “Reddy Brothers” in adjoining Karnataka, who nearly brought down the BS Yeddyurappa Government there. The leases for two mines had been allotted by the former YSR Government to the Obulapuram Mining Co. (OMC) and the ore was to be used for a steel factory to be set up in Kadapa district. The BJP dissident leader Mr. Janardhan Reddy, Karnataka Minister of Tourism, and owner of OMC is in the eye of storm, with calls from TDP leader Mr. Chandrababu Naidu and left parties for a CBI probe into his “illegal mining operations” depriving the State of thousands of crores of rupees.

As the opposition parties readied themselves for an agitation to force the Rosaiah Government, which has already set up official teams to ascertain facts, to order a CBI inquiry, Mr. Janardhan flew into Hyderabad to challenge Mr. Naidu to prove his charge or quit politics. Acknowledging “close bonds” with the YSR family. Mr. Reddy strongly refuted the charge of his company having excavated and exported iron ore, intended for the steel factory, and making use of the “ill-gotten money” for political purposes.

The all-party meeting convened by Mr. Naidu on November 13 decided to step up their agitation after the municipal poll to get democratic forces together to put an end to the activities of the “mining mafia”. Praja Rajyam Chief Chiranjeevi urged the state government to take over the mines. The BJP mining baron also denied that he had made investments in the Telugu daily Sakshi owned by YSR's son, though he had “emotional attachment” with the YSR family, knowing them for two decades. The Rosaiah Government is expected to make known the result of the visit of the fact-finding committee comprising officials of the forest and mining departments. Reports said the team had identified some encroachments including a road which connects the mines to places into the Karnataka border. A rival iron ore company of Bellary (BIOPL) had been alleging that OMC was illegally mining in an area owned by it.

Looking to political developments in the State, the proposed meeting of the Congress Legislature Party to formally elect Mr. Rosaiah as its leader has been put off to a day prior to the winter session of the Legislature. No date for the session has yet been set. The understanding was that when the CLP met, Mr. Rosaiah would be unanimously proposed for leadership and the recommendation sent to the High Command. After Mr. Rosaiah's Delhi visit, some of the Ministers who were not even attending to their work in support of Jagan, resumed work fearing they would be dropped in a Cabinet reshuffle.

The selection of Congress candidates for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation was not a smooth process with the party leadership facing flak from hundreds of disappointed candidates. Besides the Congress which is contesting all the 150 seats, TDP, BJP, Lok Satta and Left parties have put up candidates as also Praja Rajyam for 64 wards. The moves revived to bring Praja Rajyam and the Congress together had to be deferred because of resistance from the Jagan camp. Nor had Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy made known whether he would join the election campaign. His advisers did not want him to take the risk in case the results were not too favourable.

Mr. Chandrababu Naidu has gone all out to tell the citizens how his TDP Government modernised the infrastructure in the capital and how civic services and price situation had been neglected by the successor Congress government. Mr. Rosaiah hopes that people would vote Congress for stability and governance and would not overlook the record of achievements in the State under the leadership of late YSR.

With the state going through a fiscal crisis, and delayed instalments of central assistance for flood relief, many development and welfare programmes have been seriously affected. Already, besides opposition parties, Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy had been making veiled criticisms of the Rosaiah Government that it had not been fulfilling the electoral promises of YSR. Mr. Rosaiah has a few difficult months ahead in tiding over the fiscal crunch with some fresh borrowings and Central assistance. Mr. Rosaiah is giving priority to get the power projects, public and private, accelerated as the state's overall power shortage is on the rise. He is to lay down a new merchant power policy as well as plans to promote solar power for which projects are being tied up. (IPA Service)