Centre to consider President's Rule in Andhra Pradesh?

Andhra Pradesh may go for a brief spell of President's Rule with the Kiran Kumar Reddy government facing internal crisis with 25 to 30 MLAs planning to join the YSR Congress headed by Jaganmohan Reddy.

With political manipulations going on in full swing in Hyderabad, the Kiran Kumar Reddy camp is planning to shift 20 Congress MLAs to Bengaluru to avert any crisis and avoid the embarassment of the party MLAs not voting in the presidential poll.

Going for six months President's Rule seems to be an option to scuttle the crisis.

The arrival of Union Home Minister P Chidambaram in Hyderabad to attend a marriage reception also fuels speculation. There is a possibility that Governor E S L Narasimhan will present a report on the political crisis in the state not only to the home minister in person, but also send a report to Centre.

There are several indications of the Centre being forced to opt for President's Rule.

The results to the 18 assembly seats that went to by-polls will be out on Friday. In case the Congress performs badly, there's a huge possibility that a large number of Congress MLAs will desert the party and join the YSR Congress, and hence the Kiran Kumar Reddy government will be reduced to a minority.

In that case the Governor will call for a floor test, where the Jaganmohan Reddy camp can topple the government.

To add fuel to the fire, the Congress MPs and MLAs from the state may not vote for the official party nominee in the July presidential polls -- as such tilting the Congress voting pattern in a tight race.

The Union Cabinet, which is meeting on Thursday, is likely to have an informal discussion on the political crisis in Andhra Pradesh. Chidambaram will also be briefing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Andhra affairs.