Bad counsel proved tough for AP CM

By M H Ahsan

HYDERABAD: If at all anyone has to own up responsibility for the Black Saturday bombings, it is Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy himself for bowing to pressure from one of his Cabinet colleagues, who is hand in glove with a ‘like-minded’ political party, and shunting out able police officials.

A couple of ministers, who felt outraged over the twin blasts, sent him a message loud and clear at Sunday's emergency Cabinet meeting: The State Government's image has taken a terrible beating.Some others vented their anger on the Minister before the press. “He is responsible for the current state of affairs. To please some of his friends, the Minister brought pressure on the Chief Minister to take a certain decision which proved very costly,” a senior Minister, who is considered very close to Reddy, told HNN.

The same view was expressed by a few other senior ministers, who are understood to have talked to the Chief Minister in private of the gravity of the situation and the incident.Sources say a senior minister from the Telangana region sought to know what was happening in the State capital. “Why the visible policing was completely missing in the city? What the State Police Intelligence wing and the city police did even after the Intelligence Bureau sounded an alert?,” they wondered.

Another Minister from a neighbouring district was vocal in his tirade against the “inefficient city police.” Both questioned the logic behind the way the police shrugged off responsibility in Mecca Masjid blast case. “What did our police do? We say the case has been transferred to the CBI.

Is it not our responsibility to unearth the sleeping modules that are waiting to strike?” they questioned.They also targeted Home Minister K Jana Reddy for being indifferent to the situation though the time bomb was kicking and the Intelligence Bureau was sending regular alerts.

The sources say that the Chief Minister and the Home Minister almost agreed with the issues raised by the two ministers. The decision to shift City Police Commissioner Balwinder Singh and some other IPS officers holding key positions in the city was taken. Orders will be issued.