New Delhi: Urban Development Minister S Jaipal Reddy today said he was not in the race to succeed K Rosaiah as Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, even as he met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee before he left for Hyderabad to attend the Congress Legislature Party meeting.
Reddy said no political significance should be attached to his meeting with Pranab as it was to do with a function of his ministry.
68-year-old Jaipal Reddy, seen as a contender for the Chief Minister's post, met Mukherjee at his North Block office. Later, Mukherjee and a battery of heavyweight leaders like A K Antony, Veerappa Moily and Ghulam Nabi Azad left for Hyderabad to attend the Congress Legislature Party meeting this evening to elect a new leader.
Emerging from the 20-minute meeting, Jaipal Reddy said: "Politics was not discussed... I came to invite him for a function of my ministry (Urban Development).
Asked whether he was in the Chief Minister's race, he said: "I was never in the race and will never be."