The Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy who has concluded his 3-day visit to Srikakulam district as part of his ongoing Indiramma Baata programme on Sunday, has made efforts to project himself as an able administrator and a ruler concerned with the problems of farmers, women, students and other key sections of the society.

The Chief Minister who has assailed the YSR Congress chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy in the recent by-elections, chose to maintain silence on the rebel MP. He has however taken on the TDP Chief Chandra Babu Naidu in most of his public meetings and media conferences. He has compared Naidu to the proverbial crane which pretends to be in penance standing on single leg in a lake and swallows the curious fish that come near. He said BCs would meet the same fate as the innocent fish. This anecdote was highlighted by the media, to the discomfiture of the TDP supremo.

There is curious discussion among the Congress circles on why Kiran chose to ignore Jagan, in the context of the senior party leader V Hanumantha Rao calling him a covert of the YSR scion.Was it the decision of the Congress high command not to focus on Jagan any longer?

This is the question being widely debated. Though there was no official indication from the party leadership to leave Jagan alone, the attitude of the CM shows that there was change in the strategy of the party leadership, which has earlier given instructions to the state leaders to make a frontal attack on Jagan during the by-elections.

Is it because the party has realized that attacking Jagan proved to be counter productive and caused the rout of the party in the recent by-elections? Or, is it because there was some understanding between the Congress and the Jagan? Or, is there some understanding between Kiran and Jagan as alleged by Hanumantha Rao? These questions are being discussed with considerable curiosity by the state leaders. Sensing the mood of the Congress high command, most Congress leaders also had stopped attacking Jagan.

Whatever the instructions the Chief Minister might have received, he has concentrated more about enlightening the people about various welfare schemes available to them and impressing that he was working with right earnestness. He has showered many benefits on the people of Srikakulam. Kiran who is credited with hitting 14 sixes in a first class cricket match has tried to impress young students with his cricketing prowess. He has mixed with inmates of social welfare hostels and played cricket with them in the morning, before starting his busy official schedule.