Hyderabad:
Four-time MLA, Andhra Pradesh Speaker Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy, who has been selected to be the new Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, faces the daunting task to revitalize the party ridden by dissidence.
As Andhra Pradesh Assembly Speaker, Kiran Kumar Reddy had the reputation of going strictly by the rulebook. He will have to now bring all his management skills to the chief minister's office, to take along the Congressmen, who are badly divided on regional lines.
A legislator from his native Chittoor district in the Rayalaseema region of the state, 50-year-old Reddy will have to also use all his political acumen to take on the challenge posed by Congress' rebel Kadapa MP YS Jaganmohan Reddy.
"I would like to take the cooperation of Mr Jaganmohan Reddy and all the party members to overcome the problems which are here. And not only my party members, I would like to take the cooperation of Opposition members also," said Kiran Kumar Reddy, Chief Minister-elect.
Considered a close follower of late Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, Kiran Kumar Reddy was made the government Chief Whip, a role he had effectively discharged to take on the principal opposition Telugu Desam Party in general and his bete noire N Chandrababu Naidu in particular.
Kiran was first elected to the state assembly from Vayalpadu constituency in Chittoor district in 1989 but the lost the election in 1994.
In 1999 and 2004, he was elected successively from the same constituency. He had to shift to Pileru constituency in 2009 because of delimitation.
Reddy, interestingly, last year was tipped to be a senior minister in YSR's cabinet and the Speaker's post was something he was not entirely happy with.
Son of late Congress leader Amarnatha Reddy, who was was the political guru of TDP chief Naidu, Reddy graduated from the Nizam College in Hyderabad and later studied law.
An avid cricketer during his college days and a batch-mate of former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin, Reddy has represented Hyderabad in the Ranji Trophy. He will have to summon all his cricketing skills, given the political bouncers and googlies he will now face 24x7. (
With PTI inputs)