At last, Telugu Desam Party leader and Andhra Pradesh agriculture minister Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy could get an opportunity to play the role of the minister at least for one day.
After repeated requests and challenges, the Election Commission on Thursday gave a conditional permission to Somireddy to conduct a review meeting with officials at his chambers in Secretariat at 4 pm on Friday. Chief Electoral Officer Gopala Krishna Dwivedi sent a communication to this effect to the minister.
The CEO said the minister would be permitted to hold the meeting on the impact of extremely severe cyclone Fani, drought situation in the state and other issues.
He ordered that the officials should not talk to the media about the outcome of the meeting and also not release the visuals of the meeting to the media. Besides, a representative of the EC would also attend the meeting.
However, Somireddy said though the officials were not permitted to speak to the media, he would conduct a press conference after the review meeting to explain the status of the agriculture in the state.
He said he would also review on the action plans to be taken for the ensuing agriculture season.
In fact, Somireddy planned to conduct a review meeting on Tuesday but despite prior information, the officials did not attend the meeting.
He called for a second meeting on Wednesday, but then, too, the officials did not turn up. An agitated minister asked for explanation from the concerned officials and also threatened to resign from the post.
However, he wrote a letter to EC as a last resort and the EC gave him permission to hold the meeting in the wake of cyclone Fani.
So, at least for a day, Somireddy can act as a real minister!