HYDERABAD: "The Congress will surely put up a decent performance in the June by-elections for the Nellore Lok Sabha and 18 Assembly seats in the state. The outcome, however, will not prove to be a game-changer. If anyone is under that impression, I am sorry for them."This is how AICC observer for Andhra Pradesh KB Krishna Murthy sums up the pre- and post-poll situation in the state. Though he appears a little worried about the inroads that Jagan Mohan Reddy might make into the Congress bastion, he says the damage will be limited to a few seats, without specifying the number. In an interview with Express the AICC observer from Bangalore says the Congress is a formidable force at any given point of time and fledgling parties like the YSRCP will not be able to do any permanent damage to it. "There is hype that Jagan Mohan Reddy is attracting huge crowds and facts are blown out of proportion. Reality is different. People are not crazy about Jagan Mohan Reddy," he said adding: "The Kadapa MP himself owns a media house. That gives him an advantage to project himself as a tall leader but people are clever enough to sift the grain from the chaff. It is all hype. An illusion is being created that people are flocking to him."Krishna Murthy is sure that the Congress is working as a cohesive unit. "We have a robust person Botcha Satyanarayana as PCC president. He has a lot of energy to take the message of the Congress far and wide. He is doing his job well," he said and dismissed the friction between Botcha and chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy as minor irritants that could be sorted out once the elections are over.His take on the intemperate outburst of health minister DL Ravindra Reddy against the chief minister was the same. "In a party as large as the Congress, such irritants are always there. Once the elections are over, the party high command will set he house in order," he said but would not say whether Ravindra Reddy will be dropped from the cabinet.On demand from some quarters, he says he sees no reason why Kiran Kumar Redy should be changed. "In my opinion he is doing his job very well. He has been chief minister just for over one year. Even in this short span of time, he had done what any fabled chief minister would have done considering the circumstances in which he was made the chief minister," he said, recalling the days of Telangana movement and the was unrest in the party over the silence of Delhi on state bifurcation issue.On the frequent interference of the party high command in state affairs, Krishna Murthy explains that it is more in the nature of helping Kiran Kumar Reddy rather than trying to ride rough shod over him. The party leadership is keeping the state under a scanner because it wants to help the state, he says.
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