Medical and health minister D.L. Ravindra Reddy who had objected to Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy’s bringing the ‘CBI-Dharmana’ issue to the Cabinet meeting, on Satu-rday said he would wait for the response of Gove-rnor E.S.L. Narasimhan to the issue and then decide what to do.
Speaking to reporters at the Assembly lobbies, Dr Ravindra Reddy said, “I am very firm in my opinion that the issue of CBI seeking prosecution against minister Dharm-ana Prasada Rao ought not to have brought to the Cabinet meeting. It was an issue to be decided by the Chief Minister, whether to grant permission for prosecution or not.”
Detailing his objections, Dr Ravindra Reddy said it was not a normal practice or a statutory procedure to bring such issues to cabinet meetings and pass a resolution on the subject.
“The matter is sub-judice, already the Supre-me Court and the AP High Court have ruled that the CBI can go ahead with prosecuting even ministers. The CM should have decided at his level and then made his recommendations to the Governor.
“I do not understand why the whole Cabinet is put through embarrassment in this matter. If the Governor rejects the Cabinet resolution on the Dharmana Prasada Rao issue, what will be the fate of this Cabinet?” Dr Ravindra Reddy asked.
He did say he would wait for the Governor's decision over the prosecution on Mr Rao and then react. The minister also said he was not going to resign from his post, since he had never even thought of it.
About the dissent note he intended to record at the Cabinet meeting, the minister said, “It is solely between me and the Chief Secretary. She asked me something, I replied to her. It is not a matter for public consumption.”