CM sent home with a free hand

Is it

the end of the road for roads and buildings minister Dharmana Prasada Rao?

Efforts by his cabinet colleagues to save him have not cut any ice with the

Congress high command.At

the end of chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy's twoday visit to Delhi,

it has become clear that Dharmana will be dropped.Reddy

is expected to forward the minister's resignation to governor ESL Narasimhan

for acceptance on Saturday or Sunday.This

apart, the high command is understood to have given Kiran Reddy the freedom to

take appropriate action against four other ministers who have been issued notices

by the Supreme Court.Though

the high command is not disinclined to act against them, it wants to take

recourse to action as and when an opportunity presents itself.The

chief minister spent about one hour with party president Sonia Gandhi at her residence

in Delhi Friday afternoon along

with her political secretary Ahmed Patel, AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi

Azad and AICC emissary to AP Vayalar Ravi."The

chief minister is quite happy. He has been given a free hand," an aide

said as Kiran Kumar was boarding the flight to Hyderabad

Friday evening.Kiran

Reddy returned to Hyderabad,

feeling honoured that the party chief had spent close to one hour with him and

advised him as to what he should do.Interestingly,

PCC chief Botcha Satyanarayana has not been given an audience though he has

been in Delhi for the last few days

while even leaders like former minister P Shankar Rao got a chance to speak to

her.According

to sources, the high command is keen that the party has a clean image.Accordingly,

it wants Kiran Reddy's cabinet to have a new look but a sudden and sweeping

purge has its disadvantages - those dropped might embarrass the government by

joining the hands with Jagan Mohan Reddy.PCC

leadership was not discussed but Botcha is likely to be stripped of either of the

two positions

he holds, sources said.But

it would happen only after the current session of Parliament is over. Botcha is

also transport minister.Prior

to meeting Sonia, Reddy called on Vayalar Ravi and later met Veerappa Moily.

After meeting Sonia, Kiran and Botcha sat together and

discussed a revamp of the PCC and filling of nominated posts, sources said.