Kiran Kumar Reddy develops ‘backroom’ team

The Chief Minister, Mr N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, who has just completed 10 months in office, has begun to develop a political team, which mostly consists of his confidants, to assist him in gathering information and making suggestions and conducting surveys on issues of public importance etc.

There are said to be three such teams comprising 20 members and their offices are located at three different places in the city. One team is led by the Chief Minister’s younger brother, Mr Santosh Kumar Reddy.

Another brother of the Chief Minister, Mr Kishore Kumar Reddy, has been entrusted with monitoring the affairs of Chittoor district and Piler Assembly constituency, the home district of Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy.

Younger brother Mr Santosh Kumar Reddy, who runs a software institute in Bengaluru, has been assisting Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy for the last two years in preparing confidential reports to be sent to Congress central leaders from time to time. The Chief Minister totally depends on this team for all confidential work, sources said.

Most Chief Ministers develop their own backroom political teams to assist them in administration and political management. During the late Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy’s regime, Dr K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao and others used to advise the CM on political matters.

Till now, Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy had no such team in place. It is still uncertain how many and who are the persons assisting him in this task. It is said some of his college mates — one of them the son of a former MP — are part of the team.

The Chief Minister sits with them from 10 pm to midnight, getting and discussing feedback on various issues and examining suggestions, etc. The team also acts as the eyes and ears of the CM, keeping in touch with public representatives to know their grievances, hearing about pending work in their constituencies, and making recommendations accordingly to the Chief Minister.

One team is entrusted with conducting surveys on various issues, getting feedback from people and preparing reports.