Anantapur: Palle Raghunath Reddy, who was dropped from the Cabinet, said that he was obeying the Chief Minister’s decision to balance equations in the cabinet. In the wake of protests by his close aides, Mr Reddy tried to convince party leaders in his segment. Speaking at Puttaparthi on Monday, Mr Raghunath Reddy said that Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had spoken to him for over half an hour and justified his decision to drop him from the Cabinet.

Referring to the fact that the CM offered him the post of Chief Whip, a position that was not offered to any other ministers who were dropped, Mr Reddy said, “The party high command’s decision should be obeyed. The CM offered the Cabinet post to BCs from the district, but he offered me the Whip post.” He added that he would work for the party until his dying breath, without expecting anything in return.

Mr Reddy called on the party cadre to concentrate on the 2019 general polls, to ensure that TD would be voted to power again. Meanwhile, TD district unit president and Penukonda MLA B.K. Parthasarathi, who was also disappointed by the Cabinet reshuffle, and who did not attend the swearing-in ceremony, arrived at Penukonda on Monday. Speaking to cadre from the Penukonda, Mr Parthasarathi suggested that leaders who had put in their papers, withdraw their resignations. He tried to convince party leaders in his segment, and said that the CM might have deliberately made these decisions, with a strategy for the 2019 polls in mind. Kadiri MLA Chand Bhasha’s close aides were angry with the party high command for ignoring their leader. Mr Bhasha was disappointed by the last minute change in the decision to include him in the Cabinet. A senior leader from Kadiri said that the Chief Minister had not given MLA Bhasha an opportunity to meet with him.