‘YSR erred in letting Naidu off the hook’

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">HYDERABAD: Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president M Satyanarayana Rao said on Wednesday that the unilateral decision last year by Congress Legislature Party leader Y S Rajasekhara Reddy to withdraw cases filed against chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu was a ‘tactical mistake’. <br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Satyanarayana Rao</span>, who has completed two years in office, shared his thoughts on many subjects during an exclusive interview with Times News Network. Excerpts:<br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">There are rumours that there is an ‘understanding’ between Chandrababu Naidu and Y S Rajasekhara Reddy.</span><br />Rajasekhara Reddy should not have withdrawn the cases against Chandrababu Naidu without my knowledge. He filed the cases in his capacity as PCC president but took the decision to withdraw them in his individual capacity. It was a tactical mistake. The issue created misunderstanding in the minds of the people.<br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">What about the allegations of ‘match-fixing’ between the CM and Congress legislators?</span><br />I am not aware of any such incident. I would not like to comment on it.<br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">How is your equation with Reddy?</span><br />Rajasekhara Reddy is undoubtedly the most popular and charismatic leader in the Congress party in Andhra Pradesh. I acknowledge his popular appeal, but a section of the party feels that I am projecting him as a potential chief minister, which is wrong. He is a natural claimant to the post and ultimately it is for the majority legislators and the party high command to decide. Though he initially opposed my appointment as PCC chief, I stood by him in times of crisis.<br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">How does infighting affect you and the party. Are you worried?</span><br />I am not bothered. My brief is to strengthen the party. Leaders who had supported me for the Pradesh Congress Committee president’s post expected me to take on Rajasekhara Reddy, but I know the price the party has paid for group rivalries in the past. So I decided to work with him in the interest of the party. I am doing a balancing act like Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.<br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Do you see yourself as a future chief minister?</span><br />No, I am not interested in becoming a chief minister. I have no personal agenda other than to bring back the Congress party to power in Andhra Pradesh. The party has been derailed. I want to bring it back on track. </div> </div>