But a few hours later in Nizamabad, he modified the same and said OBCs, minorities and women would also be considered for the chief minister's job.
The first statement wherein Jairam asserted that a dalit would be the chief minister was made in Karimnagar at a public meeting on Sunday night and at a media briefing on Monday morning. The minister's statement was aimed at embarrassing TRS supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao who had earlier said that he would appoint a dalit as the CM of Telangana but is lately hinting he himself would not be averse to occupying the top post.
"For the second time, the Congress will become the only party to appoint a dalit as chief minister of Telangana. Fifty years ago, it had installed Damodaram Sanjeevaiah as the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh. We have talked too much about social justice but did too little. Now, we will put our words into practice," he said at the Karimnagar public meeting.
At the press conference in the same town on Monday, in reply to a question, the Union minister reiterated the decision of the Congress to appoint a dalit as chief minister of Telangana, surprising many party leaders who were on the dais along with him. "200 per cent, not 100 per cent," Jairam said adding that it was the thinking of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi to appoint a dalit as Telangana CM.
But within hours, while addressing the media in Nizamabad, Jairam said: "Panchasutra is the policy of the Congress. It will strive to choose leaders from SCs, STs, OBCs, minorities and women as Telangana chief minister." Sources said the earlier dalit CM statement was aimed at KCR but ended up triggering uproar within the state Congress, particularly from the Reddy community and BC leaders whose hopes of becoming Telangana CM were dashed by the Union minister.
Some leaders are believed to have questioned Jairam by saying that the dalit CM statement will wean away the BC community from the Congress, especially in the light of TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu's assertion four days ago that a BC leader would be made the chief minister if the TDP is voted to power in Telangana. "In view of the backlash, Jairam was forced to amend his earlier statement in Nizamabad," said sources.
Meanwhile, sources both in the Congress and TRS said the possibility of an electoral alliance between the two parties has been reduced to a zero because of the public attack on KCR by Jairam and also because of the rigid stand of the Congress and TRS on seat sharing.
"The Congress wants a minimum of 70 of the 119 assembly seats in Telangana so that it can form government on its own if it gets simple majority. The TRS also wants a minimum of 70 seats for the same reason. Hence, the possibility of an alliance is virtually non-existent now," the sources said.
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