Rosaiah offers Naidu CM post

The Telugu Desam chief, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, on Thursday got an offer to be Chief Minister for a week. It was the Chief Minister, Mr K. Rosaiah, himself who made the offer during a heated debate on the controversial Babli irrigation project in the Assembly.

Exasperated at the harangue by the TD members on the state government’s failure to find a solution to the row over the Babli project being constructed by Maharashtra, Mr Rosaiah offered his post to Mr Naidu for one week so that he could “settle the issue permanently”.

“I have no issues to give my post to Mr Naidu, if he is ready to solve the Babli problem,” said Mr Rosaiah.

However, Mr Naidu seemed taken aback by the offer and did not respond to it though he had earlier challenged the government to give his party power for a day to change things for the better.

During the debate, the TD chief found fault with the Chief Minister for his lack of commitment to find a solution. He observed that the Union water resources minister had said that the problem would be solved if the Chief Minister was ready to spend 10 minutes on it. This provoked Mr Rosaiah to make the offer.

The Chief Minister also surprised the TD by offering to appoint a legal expert proposed by Mr Naidu to defend the state in such cases. Though flummoxed, the TD members quickly wondered if all the work was delegated to the Opposition party, what was left for the CM to do.