Andhra Pradesh Governor E S L Narasimhan has
sent a report to the Centre following the resignation of N Kiran Kumar
Reddy as Chief Minister but confusion seems to persist over the status
of the Cabinet, Raj Bhavan sources said today. The Governor has not
asked Kiran to be the caretaker Chief Minister, they said, even as an
official notification is yet to be issued on acceptance of the
resignation of the 53-year-old pro-united AP leader, who quit the top
post yesterday in protest against the State's division. Kiran's
resignation came a day after the Lok Sabha passed the Bill to carve out a
separate state of Telangana from Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday. He also
quit the Congress. A number of Congress MLAs from coastal Andhra and
Rayalaseema have announced resignation from their posts and also from
the party over the issue of division, and analysts feel it would be a
tough proposition for the Congress to find a successor to Kiran in view
of sharp polarisation in the State along regional lines. Meanwhile,
some senior AICC leaders in Delhi had indicated Andhra Pradesh is
heading for a spell of President's rule. Though, the sources and some
of Kiran's colleagues informally said the Governor "accepted" the
resignation, no official communication has been issued in this regard.
Some of Kiran's erstwhile colleagues are reportedly still going around
claiming to be "Ministers" and taking part in "official" programmes in
their respective districts. "Since the Chief Minister's resignation has
not been accepted officially, we continue to be Ministers," is said to
be their refrain. "It's a peculiar situation. The Ministers are telling
in front of the media they have 'sacrificed' their posts for united AP
but they are continuing to enjoy all privileges and taking part in
official engagements in the capacity of 'Ministers'. We are confused," a
District Collector said. Meanwhile, amid suspense over Government
formation in Andhra Pradesh in the wake of Kiran's resignation, some
Ministers in the outgoing Cabinet today met the Governor. They,
however, maintained it was a courtesy call and they did not have any
discussion with Narasimhan on either politics or Government formation.
Congress leader Manishankar Aiyar attracted opposition BJP's ire today in Rajya Sabha when he said he was not interested in listening to speech of a BJP member on vote on account, prompting the Chair to adjourn the House amid uproar. During the Zero Hour, Deputy Chairman P J Kurien allowed Aiyar, who wanted to ask a question, to do so, which was opposed by BJP members. Kurien asked Aiyar whether he yielded to allow others to speak, to which he said he had no objection and he can ask his question later. As the House got ready to initiate discussion on Vote on Account, Kurien said, "Let us reduce the discussion to two hours from four hours," which was opposed by BJP members including Piyush Goyal who was given a chance to speak on Vote on Account. When it was agreed that discussion will take place as per schedule, Aiyar remarked he was not interested in listening to the speech by BJP member. "You had given me the chance to ask a question
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