Hoping to revive the fortunes of the Congress which was decimated in the 2014 elections in Andhra Pradesh, speculations are rife that the party is bringing back senior leader N Kiran Kumar Reddy.
Kiran Kumar Reddy was the last chief minister of united Andhra Pradesh before the state was bifurcated in 2014.
According to reports, the Congress high command has asked the state party functionaries to bring back leaders who had gone into exile or become inactive, after the state was bifurcated.
Senior party leader and Rajya Sabha MP T Subbirami Reddy visited Kiran Kumar Reddy at his residence on Wednesday, asking him to rejoin the party. This meeting had come after another leader, Palem Raju, also met Kiran Kumar requesting him to rejoin the Congress.
Speaking to the local media, Subbarami Reddy said that he will be happy if Kiran will join hands with the Congress and said that Kiran also expressed his wish to come back.
Subbarami also pointed out that Kiran had the experience, as he was also one of the youngest chief ministers of the state and hinted that he might play a role at the national level.
However, others in the Congress are unsure if he will be given a plum post.
Kiran Kumar Reddy decided to exile himself from politics, after the state was bifurcated against his will. As the Congress was determined to grant statehood to Telangana by carving it out of the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, Kiran Kumar quit the party and launched his own party—Jai Samaikyandhra Party (JSP) in 2014; just months before the elections.
However, his decision to launch the party and contest the elections turned out to be a major debacle, as none of his party members could win a seat. Several of them also lost their deposits.
After the failed attempt, the last CM of united Andhra Pradesh went into a self-imposed political exile.
Though Kiran Kumar was not a strong leader, he was a loyal Congress man. Following the death of Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy in a chopper accident at the Nallamala forest in 2009, acknowledging the loyalty of Kiran Kumar, the party had chosen him to be the CM in 2011 after a two-year stint by K Rosiah.
With this move, the Congress had also denied the seat to Rajasekhara Reddy’s son, YS Jaganmohan Reddy, despite heavy lobbying within the party.
While Kiran Kumar took a complete break from active politics, his brother Kishore Kumar Reddy, who led the JSP, joined the ruling Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh in November last year.