Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy is said to be virtually shaken by the reports that appeared in a section of national media that he would be dropped from his post very soon.

But he is trying to put up a brave front. He told the media in Mahbubnagar late on Saturday that he would lead the Congress party to victory in 2014 elections, too. And he refused to comment on the national media reports about the possibility of leadership change in the state.

Within hours of the national media flashing the reports, the Chief Minister’s camp became active and sent messages to all the local media that there was no such proposal by the Centre and that the report was planted in the national media by some vested interests (read: Jaipal Reddy). The CM camp quoted AICC sources that Kiran would be retained as the Chief Minister till 2014. Later in the night, the camp quoted AICC in-charge of Andhra affairs Ghulam Nabi Azad as telling Kiran that there was no truth in the media reports.

However, none of the AICC leaders including Azad came on record to condemn the media reports.

“There was a clear hint from the Congress high command to the national media about change of leadership in AP. Otherwise, they would not have carried the report so boldly,” sources in New Delhi said.