Sonia Gandhi and K. Rosaiah at Hyderabad airport on Monday after an aerial survey of the flood-affected areas. (PTI)

Hyderabad, Oct. 5: From someone who was to keep the seat warm, K. Rosaiah has now made the hot seat very much his own.

Precisely at the auspicious time of 9.02am today, Rosaiah moved into the chief minister’s chambers in the C-block of the secretariat, a little over a month since a helicopter crash killed Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy. The office change caps a month of frenzied lobbying by supporters of YSR’s son Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy who want the top job to remain within the family.

Rosaiah’s photographs also appeared on the walls of all government offices and chambers of ministers and bureaucrats replacing those of YSR.

The chief minister had yesterday deferred the shift because of the floods but, sources said, was persuaded by Veerappa Moily, Union minister and the Congress’s Andhra in-charge, to do so today to coincide with Sonia Gandhi’s visit.

Rosaiah, who has so far been operating from the office he occupied as the state’s finance minister under YSR, intends to send a subtle message to detractors that he is very much in the saddle now.

Much of Rosaiah’s confidence stems from the backing he has received from the Congress high command, which was not too eager to hand over the reins to the young and inexperienced Jaganmohan.

The Congress leadership kept an iron grip on the party in the state, muzzling any dissident voice within the cabinet of Rosaiah and silencing the campaign to foist Jaganmohan on his father’s chair.

As investigations into the September 1 helicopter crash crawled along, murmurs of “inept handling” and “security lapses” continued to hound the state administration.

The finger of accusation pointed at director-general of police S.S.P. Yadav and two other IPS and IAS officials, who came under the scanner for alleged security lapses and also for the apparent failure to monitor the route of the helicopter carrying YSR and four others.

Yadav had left local Congress leaders and workers loyal to YSR and his son seething with his remark in Tirupati that the media had started a blame game “just because five persons had been killed in a helicopter crash”. But the Congress high command stepped in and refused to approve the shifting of the police chief.

Boosted by the backing from Delhi, Rosaiah gained in confidence and held his first cabinet meeting on September 24 after the high command admonished his rebellious ministerial colleagues who were clamouring for his replacement with Jaganmohan. He also sent out a stern signal that he would shuffle his cabinet according to directions from Delhi.

This was intended as a message to ministers who had been vociferously supporting Jaganmohan and are now lobbying to retain their berths.

Rosaiah also declared last week that he was ready to prove his strength on the floor of the Assembly if Delhi directed him to.

Jaganmohan, who has found the support for him waning, has been lying low. He went to the Nallamala forests and paid floral tributes at the site of the crash and also addressed a public meeting at a nearby tribal village. He then went to Pulivendula — from where the Reddys hail and where YSR was laid to rest — and later drove to Bangalore.

Sources said Jaganmohan planned to live in his Banjara Hills apartment after returning to Hyderabad and might not go back to the Begumpet camp office of the chief minister where he lived with his father.

The sources said that after shifting to YSR’s office, Rosaiah could also move into the chief minister’s official residence at Begumpet.