After projecting himself as a star batsman who can defend the integrated status of Andhra Pradesh, the Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy declared himself retired hurt on a crucial day when the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, 2013, was tabled in the Assembly amid noisy scenes and unprecedented turmoil both within and outside the House.
The official reason given was that the Chief Minister was unwell.
However, the buzz in the Assembly lobbies is that he took ill after having lunch at the PCC Chief Botsa Satyanarayana's house on Friday along with the AICC General Secretaty in-charge of Andhra Pradesh Digvijay Singh.
After returning from Botsa's house, Kiran fell ill. He had a bout of dysentery and fever. It is said that food poisoning was the cause of his sudden illness. Was there a conspiracy behind it?
This was the question doing rounds in the Assembly lobbies as the Chief Minister was conspicuous by his absence for the entire day when dramatic developments unfolded inside and outside the Assembly with Telangana and Seemandhra members nearly coming to blows.
The Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu also kept himself away from the proceedings though he was closetted with his party leaders in his chambers in the Assembly premises.
This has given rise to suspicion that both the Leader of the House and the Opposition Leader deliberately absented themselves from the House when the Telangana bill was introduced.
