Speculation on CBI chargesheets

Speculation is rife about the number of Ministers from Kiran Kumar Reddy's cabinet who are likely to get sucked into the vortex of CBI cases, especially after the charge-sheet against Dharmana Prasada Rao.

While Rao is being pressured by his colleagues against insisting on the acceptance of his resignation, anaysts feel that ministers and bureaucrats are mere pawns in a larger plot. Among those who called on Prasada Rao today were the Deputy CM Damodara Rajanarsimha and former Minister, Peddi Reddi. Meanwhile, ministers Raghuveera Reddy, P. Sathyanarayana and Uttam Kumar Reddy met the Chief Minister at his Camp Office and held discussions with him.

Although most ministers expect the government to back them, the fact that a minister of the stature of Prasada Rao, who stands high in the pecking order could be charged by the CBI, seems to have come as a shock to his cabinet colleagues. This, according to analysts, has led to a sense of panic in them as the proverbial Damocles sword seems to be hanging over many of them. How the Chief Minister responds and what he does to extricate his colleagues in the likelihood of more names  getting drawn into CBI cases, is anybody's guess. Even as Kiran Kumar Reddy is struggling to get his act together in recent months following the debacle of the Congress party in the by-polls in June, the likelihood of more ministers featuring in CBI cases does not augur well for the state government. 

On another political front, KCR and the TRS in tandem with TJAC are planning to up the ante on the Telangana issue and intensify the agitation for a separate state. Predictably, this will cause more problems for the state government in the months to come.