Campaign for YSR son runs into Sonia wall

New Delhi With Congress president Sonia Gandhi deciding to crack the whip on regional leaders seeking to dictate terms in the Andhra Pradesh succession, senior party leader Digvijay Singh was sent to Hyderabad on Sunday to deliver a stern message to Rajya Sabha member Dr K V P Ramachandra Rao — the late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s right hand man, and perceived brain behind the feverish campaign to install YSR’s son Jaganmohan Reddy as chief minister.

Late on Sunday afternoon, Ramachandra Rao, widely known as KVP, gave a dramatic speech to members of YSR’s council of ministers, reminding them that in the Congress, “no one goes against the high command”.

Within an hour, all 34 members of the YSR’s former Cabinet took oath again — and Konijeti Rosaiah took charge of the new government as interim chief minister in Hyderabad.

Digvijay Singh met Jaganmohan and other members of YSR’s family to convey the Congress high command’s displeasure over the high-voltage campaign being waged over the succession, party sources told The Indian Express.

Singh himself, however, told The Express that his visit to Hyderabad had nothing to do with politics: “I met the (Reddy) family to express my condolence. It would have been improper for me to talk about politics with them,” he said.

Singh’s meeting with YSR’s family in Hyderabad came hours after Sonia got a briefing on the situation from the AICC’s Andhra Pradesh in-charge Veerappa Moily in New Delhi.