HYDERABAD: Praja Rajyam Party legislators eager to get into the Kiran Kumar Reddy cabinet may have to wait.The chief minister after conferring with party president Sonia Gandhi at Delhi on Friday, said inclusion of PRP MLAs would take place only after the party officially merges with the Congress in the Assembly.“The PRP has not yet merged in the Assembly.The speaker has to take a decision on this count.Their inclusion in the cabinet will take place only afterwards,” he said, replying to a question at a news conference at Delhi.He added, “Cabinet expansion will take place when it is needed.I do not predict and do not prompt,” he said, dropping a subtle hint that expansion will take time.The PRP is keen on sending MLA G Srinivasa Rao and MLC C Ramachandraiah into the state Cabinet.The chief minister, however, appeared to have taken up the gauntlet thrown by PCC president Botcha Satyanarayana.He said that he would refer “illegal activities” of liquor syndicates to the CBI, if he felt necessary.“I have not seen the report submitted by the ACB.First let met go through it.In fact the ACB is headed by an officer who worked in CBI for seven years (D Boobathi Babu).” Trying to play down reports that he had serious differences with Satyanarayana, he said there was nothing wrong in PCC president submitting a letter to him requesting for CBI probe.“On every alternate day, we meet and discuss party affairs, by-elections and who should be given party tickets.As PCC president, he is doing his duty and as chief minister I am doing my duty,” he said.Asked whether he wanted Satyanarayana out of his cabinet since he holds two posts, Kiran Kumar Reddy said: “He is a member of my cabinet because I wanted him.He is PCC president because the party high command wanted it.A decision on whether he should hold two posts has to be taken by the high command,” he added.The chief minister, referring to the provision of one lakh jobs to unemployed youth by the end of this month, said the proposal was ready at the government level.“We are waiting for the Prime Minister to give us a date on which he would hand over appointment letters to the candidates,” the chief minister said, adding: “We may get his time either in the first week or second week of January.” Asked about the threat handed out by KCR that the Telangana movement would be fierce after Sankrathi, the chief minister said the government cannot be threatened.“The government need not take into cognizance the utterances of the TRS chief,” he said.“By the grace of God my health is quite good,”he said, reacting to the comment of KCR that Kiran Kumar Reddy would swoon watching the intensity of the movement.The chief minister also made it clear that in sectors where taxes have to be levied or increased, the government would have to do it.“At the same time, we have to ensure that welfare programmes reach the targeted sections,” he aid adding he had sought Rs500 crore from Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh for augmenting drinking water supply.He said the public outcry over increase in power tariff was not justified as they were only proposals of the Discoms before the Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission.
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