[welcomewiki]

Chiranjeevi Dy-CM, PRP to merge with congress?
Hyderabad Nov 24 (INN): Praja Rajayam party president K Chiranjeevi will be sworn in as Deputy Chief Minister along with N Kiran Kumar Reddy who will take oath as Chief Minister on Thursday at around 12.45 pm. According to highly placed sources Mr Chiranjeevi will merge his party, Prajarajyam with the congress, sources say, though this has not been confirmed officially. This move is seen as an attempt to checkmate Kadapa MP Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy

Why Sonia handpicked Kiran?
Hyderabad, November 25: Andhra Pradesh Assembly Speaker N Kiran Kumar Reddy will be the new chief minister. On a day of fast-paced developments, chief minister K Rosaiah made an unexpected exit from office and within hours, the Congress leadership announced his successor. Kiran Kumar Reddy will be sworn in on Thursday afternoon. With Union Minister S Jaipal Reddy ruling himself out or rather ignored, the choice narrowed down to Information Minister J Geeta Reddy (from Telangana) and Speaker Kiran Kumar Reddy (Rayalaseema). Though it was expected that the party would contemplate change of leadership before the Srikrishna report on Telangana towards the end of December, Rosaiah's resignation came as a surprise as there were no prior hints of the same.

According to sources, Rosaiah was informed of Delhi's intention to go in for a change within a couple of hours after he returned on Tuesday night from a visit to the national capital where he poured his heart out over lack of freedom to run the affairs and also how the Jagan camp was causing him trouble. Late last night came the announcement about an emergency meeting of the Congress legislature party but it was seen as one meant to reaffirm confidence in the leadership of Sonia Gandhi in the light of the attack launched by a channel owned by the late YSR's son, Jagan Mohan Reddy, against the party president. By morning, however, the twist came to light and Rosaiah himself broke the news in the afternoon. Soon after, he called on the Governor and handed over his resignation.

Rosaiah's exit, sources said, was part of the Congress plan for a complete overhaul of the government and the party to check the drift in a State which sent as many as 33 MPs to the Lok Sabha just over a year ago. According to party insiders, three major factors were borne in mind by the leadership as it got down to the task of choosing the successor to Rosaiah.

One, the Telangana demand, two, the pressure being built by Jagan with his open defiance of the leadership, and third, the Reddy factor.

Evidently, the party could not select someone from Coastal Andhra as Rosaiah too hails from that region and it would only precipitate matters in the context of the T issue. Geeta Reddy was, no doubt,in the reckoning but the party leadership felt it would be difficult for a leader from Telangana to run the show if the Centre decided against carving out a separate state after the Srikrishna report. Already, Telangana Congress leaders had demanded that the new chief minister should be one who is not anti-Telangana if not from the region itself. Having experimented with a non-Reddy in Rosaiah, there were clear indications that the choice this time would be from the Reddy community itself.

A couple of hours after Rosaiah submitted his resignation, Congress bigwigs -- Pranab Mukherjee, AK Antony, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Veerappa Moily -- landed in Hyderabad to chair the meeting of the legislature party. As is the Congress tradition, a one line resolution was adopted authorising Sonia to nominate the successor. By 10 p.m. Pranab Mukherjee completed the confabulations, got in touch with Sonia Gandhi and conveyed her decision to Kiran Kumar Reddy and other senior party leaders. Relatively young but one who has mastered the art of politics from the late YSR, the party apparently felt that he would be able to connect with a majority of the young legislators. He was seen as the ideal choice if Delhi had to take on Jagan.

From Captain to CM: Kiran's profile

Hyderabad, November 25: A YSR loyalist and four-time MLA, Andhra Pradesh Speaker Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy, who has been selected to be the new Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, faces the daunting task to revitalize the party ridden by dissidence. A legislator from his native Chittoor district in the Rayalaseema region of the state, 50-year-old Reddy will have to also use all his political acumen to take on the challenge posed by Congress' rebel Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy.

Considered a close follower of late Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, Kiran Kumar Reddy was made the government Chief Whip, a role he had effectively discharged to take on the principal opposition Telugu Desam Party in general and his bete noire N Chandrababu Naidu in particular. Son of late Congress leader Amarnatha Reddy, who was was the political guru of TDP chief Naidu, Reddy graduated from the Nizam College in Hyderabad and later studied law.

An avid cricketer during his college days and a batchmate of former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin, Reddy has represented Hyderabad in the Ranji Trophy. Kiran was first elected to the state assembly from Vayalpadu constituency in Chittoor district in 1989 but the lost the election in 1994. In 1999 and 2004, he was elected successively from the same constituency. He had to shift to Pileru constituency in 2009 because of delimitation.

Though he aspired to become a Minister in YSR's cabinet in 2009, he could not be accommodated because of political equations in Chittoor district and hence he was made Speaker of the assembly. After K Rosaiah became the Chief Minister in September 2009, Kiran had again aspired to become the minister but the cabinet expansion never took place.