The resignation of Konijeti Rosaiah, 77, as the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh was as sudden as his elevation to the post nearly 15 months ago.
The veteran politician, known for his administrative skills more than his political clout, was appointed chief minister on September 3, 2009 after the death of Rajasekhara Reddy in a helicopter crash in Kurnool district was confirmed.
Though at that time the choice of high command was seen as a mere stop gap arrangement, over the weeks Rosaiah came in to his own and took a firm grip over the reigns of the administration.
However, his old age, health problems and back breaking challenges both on the government and the political front bogged Rosaih down and he faced a lot of flak from within his own party for his "weak leadership".
If YSR's defiant son and Congress MP from Kadapa Jaganmohan Reddy made his life difficult by staking his claim on leadership through his supporters among the ministers, MLAs and MPs, his administrative capabilities were repeatedly challenged by the nature's fury last year and this year.
Rosaiah's biggest handicap was lack of any base or group of his own within the party. But he tried to use it as his strength by projecting himself as a "disciplined and loyal soldier" of the party.
He always projected himself as a man who never aspired for any post but always bowed his head before the party high command whenever he was asked to shoulder a responsibility.
To show how reluctant he was in taking the place of YSR, he took one full month before he moved in to the chief minister's office in the state secretariat of Hyderabad and many more months to shift to the official residence of CM in state capital's Begumpet area.
Rosaiah tried to deal with Jagan's challenge in his own imitable style by treating him as a "bachcha" (young boy) and said he will have no objection if Jagan was made the chief minister.
At the same time the Machiavellian politician saw to it that Jagan's base was eroded among the ministers and the legislators. By driving Jagan to wall on the issue of his "Odarpu" yatra, Rosaiah also pinned down his loyalists among the ministers to ensure that they don't support Jagan overtly and covertly.
Even in the party Jagan was gradually isolated and one after the other his loyalists were suspended from the Congress during Rosaiah's tenure. Now even his ouster was being seen as a move to checkmate Jagan when the young man from Kadapa was trying to go on an offensive directly against party president Sonia Gandhi.
By inducting someone else other than Jagan, the Congress high command will be sending a clear message to the Kadapa MP that his antics were not acceptable to the party and if need be it was ready to show him the door.
Not confronting anybody directly was the hallmark of Rosaiah's leadership as the chief minister. Even on the burning Telangana issue, which flared up during the first three-four months of his tenure, Rosaiah never took an open stand against or in favour of Telangana.
"The issue is before the high command and let them take a decision. Till then, let us maintain peace," was his common refrain.
By replacing Rosaiah, the Congress high command seems to be gearing up to tackle the Telangana issue after December when Justice Srikrishna committee will submit its report.
The protagonists of Telangana including K Chandrasekhar Rao of Telangana Rashtra Samiti have already warned of a civil war if Telangana was not granted statehood after December.
But Congress leadership does not appear to be in a mood to be browbeaten by such threats and wants the new leader to take the Telangana bull by horn.
As far as Rosaiah is concerned, he was likely to be given a gubernatorial post in one state or the other. During his more than half a century long political career, Rosaiah was elected as the member of AP legislative council, AP state assembly and the Lok Sabha.
He has the record of presenting as many as 15 annual budgets of the state under various chief ministers as well as during his own chief ministership.
An aggressive opposition leader in legislative council in late 1970s, Rosaiah was brought in to Congress by then Chief Minister Marri Channa Reddy and made a minister in 1979.
After that he served in the cabinet of almost every Congress chief minister holding important portfolios of finance, power, transport, health and legislative affairs.
He was also the bulwark of the party against the opposition during YSR's rule. He also served as the state Congress president from 1995 t0 1997 when Telugu Desam Party was in power.
