Y S JAGAN "estranged"

DESARAJU SURYA
Hyderabad: Exactly a year after his father and former Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s death, Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy is facing a political dilemma as he is left “estranged” from ministers and MLAs in Andhra Pradesh.
He has no real supporters, except two, in the Andhra Pradesh Council of Ministers while not more than 20 MLAs are publicly backing him.
The Cabinet Ministers who vowed to forego their posts if Jagan was not made the Chief Minister, immediately after Rajasekhara Reddy’s death in a helicopter crash on September 2 last year, have now virtually deserted him.
“I will not only quit my Cabinet post but also split the Congress party in the state if Jagan is not made the Chief Minister,” Forest Minister Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy thundered as he entered the Samatha block in the Secretariat for an extraordinary Cabinet meeting on September 3 last year.
Home Minister P Sabita Reddy, Information Technology Minister Komatireddy Venkata Reddy, Health Minister Danam Nagender, Secondary Education Minister Dokka Manikya Vara Prasada Rao, Rural Water Supply Minister P Viswaroop and many other ministers spoke in a similar tone.
In fact, Vara Prasada Rao announced that he made it to the state Legislative Assembly only due to Jagan and, as such, would not continue in the Cabinet without the latter heading it.
Only Konda Surekha, who held the Women Development and Child Welfare portfolio in the Rajasekhara Reddy Cabinet, stuck to her word and quit her post as the Congress high command firmly backed K Rosaiah for the Chief Minister’s job.
One year down the line, the ministers fell silent and have distanced themselves from the Kadapa MP who has been constantly defying the party high command. Now, the ministers are not even raising the demand for Jagan’s appointment as the Chief Minister as they are more worried about securing their jobs.
Only Social Welfare Minister Pilli Subhash Chandra Bose and Mines Minister Balineni Srinivasa Reddy have affirmed their loyalty to Jagan and continued to sail with him.
For a couple of months after Rajasekhara Reddy’s death, almost every minister, barring the likes of Botsa Satyanarayana, used to call on Jagan everyday whenever he was in the state capital. They even skipped their official duties and jumped over each other to keep Jagan in good humour.
Gradually the ministers stopped meeting the rebellious MP and even started talking against his defiant postures. “The Congress high command is the supreme. Everyone has to strictly respect it,” has been the ministers’ refrain even as they advised Jagan to fall in line, following the controversy over the Odarpu Yatra.
Sticking to the party line, ministers stayed away from the MP’s condolence tour in their respective districts. Only Subhash Chandra Bose accompanied Jagan on the tour in East Godavari district while Srinivasa Reddy vowed to do so in Prakasam district.
Interestingly, in his own Kadapa district, local minister Md Ahmadullah stayed away when Jagan went on the condolence tour for two days in Pulivendula constituency late last month.
On September 3 last year, when Rajasekhara Reddy’s death was officially announced, government Chief Whip Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka led a campaign and collected signatures of more than 150 out of the 157 Congress MLAs demanding that Jagan be immediately appointed YSR’s successor.
As things stand, not more than 20 MLAs are on Jagan’s side.
What fate befalls the 37-year-old industrialist-turned-politician is curiously awaited as he embarks on the next leg of his controversial Odarpu Yatra in Prakasam district from tomorrow, overlooking the high command’s counsel.