Rosaiah's Last Speech As CM

Governor ESL Narasimhan on Wednesday accepted the resignation of Chief Minister K Rosaiah and advised him to continue in the post till alternative arrangements are made.

Earlier, Rosaiah had addressed his last press conference as Chief Minister at the Secretariat, and proceeded to Raj Bhavan to submit his resignation to the Governor.

Sources say that Rosaiah had requested the Governor to accept his resignation with immediate effect. He was closeted with the Governor for about 15 minutes.

In his resignation letter, Rosaiah stated that he was unable to withstand the work-pressure citing his advancing age and the growing pressures of work, Governor office sources said.

Rosaiah had sought to dispel any doubts that there was any sort of pressure on him to resign by saying that there were no political reason behind his resignation. He had refused to name his possible successor.

The Chief Minister also termed his decision to resign as 'satisfactory', but added that his unparalleled stint as the Finance Minister, in which he had the unique distinction to present the state budget for a record 16 times, was far less strenuous. Rosaiah also presented the budget for the 16th time during his stint as Chief Minister.

Rosaiah took the opportunity of his last press meet at the Secretariat to thank the Congress party, the bureaucracy, and the people for reposing faith in him. He also pledged his unstinted cooperation to whoever succeeded him.

"Earlier as a minister, I did not have much work load, and therefore I could function at ease," the CM stated.

"However, I worked as a disciplined soldier for 14 months," he said, and added that though he did not belong to any particular group or a section, he was given a chance to serve the people by the High Command.

Rosaiah categorically stated that the High Command entrusted the job to fill the gap created by YSR's untimely demise, and he did his best receiving full cooperation from his colleagues, MPs, and MLAs. He expressed his gratitude to all those who stood for him including the High Command.

Rosaiah was also specific in referring to the press and said in a lighter vein, "Due to the busy schedule, I could not give you time. At times, I may have lost my cool while talking to you. Please take it in right perspective. Now I am a free man, you can come to me any time and treat me as your friend."

The 78-year-old Rosaiah had taken over as the Chief Minister on September 3rd last year following the death of Y S Rajasekhara Reddy in a helicopter crash the day before. He remained at the helm of the government for 447 days.

Rosaiah's resignation caught most of the politicians in the state off-guard, since speculation was rife in political circles that he had visited New Delhi to brief the High Command over the fall out of an anti-Congres program aired by Sakshi television channel.

Congress MP from Kadapa Y S Jaganmohan Reddy owns the Sakshi media house.

Courtesy: INN