Hold your horses, KVP tells mantris

HYDERABAD: It's a continuum of the status quo for the pro-Jagan camp. They seem to be coming to terms with the hard reality that the Congress high command is in no hurry to anoint Y S Jaganmohan Reddy as chief minister, notwithstanding the `overwhelming sympathy' from all quarters in the party. Now, the only option before them is to simply wait.
With no concrete assurances from Delhi, K V P Ramachandra Rao on Tuesday urged ministers to start focusing on their official work for now, as the high command had assured to take up the matter at the earliest.
Earlier in the day, 15 ministers trooped in to KVP's house after news channels said that KVP was having important talks with senior ministers. However, the interaction with KVP turned out to be a hard-hitting reality session about the party high-command's views on Jagan.
The ministers include Vatti Vasant Kumar, Gade Venkat Reddy, Danam Nagendar, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, Dharmana Prasada Rao, P Balaraju, D K Aruna, Anam Ramnarayana Reddy, Kanna Lakshmi Narayana, M Mukesh Goud, Balineni Srinivasa Reddy, P Suderhsan Reddy, P Ramachandra Reddy, Damodar Rajanarasimha and P Satyanarayana.
Even as some of them tried to toughen their stance against chief minister Rosaiah, KVP is learnt to have impressed upon them to realise the largescale damage it had been inflicting on Jagan's prospects.
When some of them asked KVP the reasons for not convening the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting to offer condolences to the departed leader, KVP asked them to be patient and not precipitate the matter. A senior cabinet minister explained on what could unfold at the CLP meeting, which could prove counter-productive to Jagan. An emotional appeal by MLAs after the condolence session in support of Jagan's candidature and the likely unruly scenes that could follow in front of the invitee from the Centre could play spoilsport, they were told.
KVP also drove home the point that the levels of friction between them need to be brought down in their own interest and the long-term interest of Jagan himself. "Rumours are afloat that we are planning to engineer a split. Let us not send out negative signals to Delhi that we are not abiding by their directive," he is learnt to have said.
Though KVP met Jagan more than once during the day, they were tightlipped about what transpired. But it became clear at the end of the day that the high command wanted all ministers and party MLAs to fall in line and extend their unconditional support to K Rosaiah and await further instructions which could take days, or even months.
Later, health minister Nagendar claimed that all his colleagues were loyal soldiers of Congress and nothing was more important to them than the high command's wish.