Ever since there have been reports from New Delhi that the Congress high command might dump Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and replace him with an able candidate, several names have come into circulation as his replacement.

While the national media has projected union minister S Jaipal Reddy as the replacement for Kiran, the local media have been raising the names of Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Raja Narasimha, panchayat raj minister K Jana Reddy, Sanathnagar MLA Marri Shashidhar Reddy and industries minister J Geetha Reddy.

However, Andhra Jyothy managing director V Radhakrishna suddenly brought to the fore the name of revenue minister N Raghuveera Reddy as the best alternative to Kiran as the Chief Minister. In his column on Saturday, RK tried to give a lengthy explanation as to why Raghuveera is a better choice: he hails from BC community, a loyalist of YSR and an experienced politician with no stigma of corruption. But what he failed to mention is his leadership qualities and acceptability among all the regions.

RK came to the conclusion that since the Congress is planning to take a favourable decision on Telangana, it would not make a Telangana leader as the CM. Secondly, since the Reddys have shifted their loyalties to YSR Congress, it would not make any other Reddy as the CM but will look for other castes. Since Botsa Satyanarayana has a bad name, he would not be picked up, while Damodar Raja Narasimha is too weak a candidate. So, Raghuveera is the only choice, avers RK.

Any takers?