Andhra Cabinet wants YSR's son as next CM

Hyderabad: Within hours of the death of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy in a helicopter crash, the state Cabinet passed a resolution urging the Congress party's central leadership to make his son YS Jaganmohan Reddy the next chief minister.

The Cabinet meeting, presided over by caretaker Chief Minister K Rosaiah, passed the resolution demanding that Kadapa MP Jaganmohan Reddy be named successor to his father.

Ministers loyal to Rajasekhara Reddy were unanimous that the young MP should be made the next chief minister. This will be a real tribute to YSR, said Minister of Health D Nagender.

The resolution was passed amid reports that over 100 legislators of the ruling party are supporting the demand. The legislators also met Union Minister for law and in-charge of party affairs in the state M Veerappa Moily to submit a memorandum.

Some Congress legislators also met Praja Rajyam Party President K Chiranjeevi to request him to support Jaganmohan Reddy's candidature.

The Congress party has 155 members in the 294-member Assembly.

A group of MPs also held a meeting and decided to place their demand before Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

According to sources in the ruling party, the legislators have launched a campaign to demand that Jaganmohan be appointed the chief minister.

Jaganmohan's loyalists among party workers, too, have launched a campaign in this regard. Some workers sitting outside Gandhi Bhavan, the party headquarters in the city, said they would not accept anybody other than YSR's son to head the state government.

"When Indira Gandhi expired Rajiv Gandhi was made the prime minister. Why not Jagan be made chief minister now?" says an SMS message being circulated by Jaganmohan's followers.

Jaganmohan, an industrialist who runs the Sakshi daily and a television channel, was elected from Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency in the April-May elections.

YSR was killed in a chopper crash while travelling to Chittoor from Hyderabad in inclement weather on Wednesday. The mangled remains of the helicopter and the bodies of the chief minister and four others accompanying him were located on Thursday morning in the Nallamala jungles.