Hyderabad, Oct 30 (IANS) Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K. Rosaiah Friday asked Governor N.D. Tiwari to accept the resignation of Women Development and Child Welfare Minister Konda Surekha.
Unhappy over the Congress party’s decision not to make Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy the chief minister, the minister had resigned from the cabinet Thursday night.

According to sources in the chief minister’s office, Rosaiah sent a letter to the governor recommending that her resignation be accepted.

Surekha had submitted a six-page resignation letter to the governor, a couple of hours after she attended a cabinet meeting.

She told reporters it was “unfortunate that the high command has believed a few so-called seniors and denied the chief minister’s post to Jaganmohan Reddy, without showing any regard to the people’s wishes”.

She said she wanted the party’s leadership to realise its mistake and make him the chief minister.

After meeting Congress president Sonia Gandhi last week, Jaganmohan Reddy had said that it was not important for him to become the chief minister at this juncture but he was ready to take up the responsibility in future.

Ever since the death of his father and chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy in a helicopter crash last month, the minister had been demanding that Jaganmohan Reddy be appointed to the post.

Political analysts say Surekha decided to resign as she was certain that the axe would fall on her during the proposed cabinet reshuffle by Rosaiah. She had stated on a number of occasions that she would not remain a part of a cabinet not headed by Jaganmohan Reddy.

The minister said it was her personal decision and she had not informed anyone, including Jaganmohan Reddy, till the last moment.

Surekha’s statement targeting some senior leaders once again triggered a war of words in the party. After submitting her resignation, Surekha made an indirect attack on former central government minister Renuka Chowdary for trying to defame Jaganmohan Reddy.

Without naming her, Surekha said a woman leader, who had defected from the Telugu Desam Party and become a minister, along with a couple of newspapers and a section of Congress leaders, launched a campaign to defame Jaganmohan Reddy and conspired to see that he did not become the chief minister.