Hours after constituting his Council of Ministers, Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy was confronted with a crisis around midnight tonight when at least two ministers resigning, unhappy over allocation of portfolios to them.
At least half a dozen more ministers were said to be contemplating quitting, in protest against the allocation of "insignificant" portfolios.
Vatti Vasantha Kumar, who has held the portfolio of Rural Development in the previous K. Rosaiah government, quit after he was given the charge of the Tourism Department in the new ministry
Following in Vatti’s steps, Komatireddi Venkat Reddy too has forwarded his resignation to the chief minister.
Komatireddi was given the charge of Infrastructure and Investments in the new government. He was the minister for Information Technology and Communications in the previous government.
Both have sent in their resignation to the chief minister. Senior ministers Danam Nagender, Damodara Rajanarasimha and a couple of others who too feel they were relegated to insignificant (non-revenue generating) departments, were also said to be contemplating to resign.
A handful of ministers reportedly met at Vatti's residence late tonight to chalk out their strategy even as reports suggested that the chief minister was trying to persuade his Cabinet colleagues against resigning.
Some ministers, whom the CM spoke to following the resignation threat, were reportedly assured that the portfolios issue would be discussed on Thursday morning when the new Council of ministers holds its first meet.