Minister D L Ravindra Reddy seems to have lost the fire for dissidence even before it started. His war against Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy has failed to attract too many admirers within and outside the cabinet. A couple of days after firing salvos against the CM, DL is reportedly withdrawing into a shell.
DL’s attempts at roping in Mopidevi Venkata Ramana did not exactly fall into place, as the latter chose to be in the good books of the CM. Mopidevi refuted the allegations made by DL in his support and gave a clean chit to Kiran, stating that the CM did not have any hand in his name figuring in the excise scam.
Even Botsa Satyanarayana, the PCC chief, could not openly support Ravindra Reddy’s outbursts and sarcastic comments against the CM, as that would have been frowned upon by the party high command. Botsa prefers a more behind the scenes approach to contain the CM, unlike DL, who talks before he thinks.
Kiran remained unruffled throughout the DL episode, as he considers the Kadapa Minister as politically weak, which became evident in the last by-election when he lost the deposit to Jagan Mohan Reddy. Besides, the CM knows that not many in the party would associate with DL, as the latter does not have the political wherewithal to sustain dissidence for long.
No wonder, Kiran is going ahead with his party meeting of Kadapa district in Kalahasti without the presence of D L Ravindra Reddy. Kiran is expected to further push DL into a corner and slowly ease him out at the right time.
