New Delhi, Feb 20: Former PCC Chief and MLC D Srinivas’ visit to the capital and his meetings with the party President Sonia Gandhi, her political adviser Ahmed Patel, party General Secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad and others has given rise to speculations that he was called by the High Command to asses the realistic political situation in the state and the party’s prospects in the ensuing by elections.

Sonia Gandhi and other top leaders of the party have immense confidence on DS as he along with Rajasekhara Reddy had led the party to victory twice in 2004 and 2009 in Andhra Pradesh. This was the reason why the top leaders of the party have nominated him to the Legislative Council, though he was defeated in the assembly elections twice.

Though DS has stated that his meetings with party leaders were just courtesy calls and that he had not complained against any one, it is learnt that he had submitted a secret report to the High Command. The report primarily mentioned about the rift between the Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and the PCC Chief Botsa Satyanarayana. The Jagan factor, ACB raids on liquor syndicates, state budget, preparedness of the party for the by-elections appear to have come up for discussion between DS and the central leaders. The party leadership has reportedly sought the impartial assessment from the former PCC Chief, as both the groups of the Chief Minister and PCC Chief have been giving contradictory reports.