Hyderabad:
The Congress high command's emissaries, who were recently in Andhra Pradesh to take stock of the party's position in the state, was conveyed by state leaders that Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy should be removed forthwith if the ruling party wants to stem its political slide.
Ghulam Nabi Azad, Krishna Murthy and Vayalar Ravi, who were deputed by the party high command to study the party affairs in the state in the last three months, have been told that Mr Reddy should be allowed to continue as Chief Minister.
In the last two days spent in Hyderabad, Union Minister Vayalar Ravi had received complaints against the Chief Minister.
A handful of senior ministers, a group of MPs (from Telangana region), scores of MLAs and senior party leaders were demanding Kiran's removal.
"What has been ailing the Congress in Andhra Praddesh in the last two years is a clear leadership crisis", was the message conveyed to Mr Ravi.
Some state leaders also accused Mr Reddy of promoting groupism in the party and discriminating between regions at a time when the party is grappling with Telangana issue. They cited the release of "special grants" to select constituencies (going to by-polls in Andhra-Rayalaseema) which was never done in the case of those in Telangana.
The leaders also said that the perceived rift between the Chief Minister and Pradesh Congress Committee President Botsa Satyanarayana was harming the party.
"He (Kiran) is an introvert," Mr Ravi reportedly remarked when a senior minister told him about the "unilateral" policy decisions taken by the Chief Minister.