DESARAJU SURYA
Hyderabad: From a small-time businessman to a formidable political
leader, Y S Jaganmohan Reddy -- better known
as Jagan -- had a rather smooth ride in over a decade before he hit a biggest
bump in his life now.
The only son of late Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Y S Rajasekhara
Reddy, Jagan began his business career in 1999-2000 by establishing a tiny
power company Sandur in neighbouring Karnataka.
His business graph rose meteorically once his father became the state
Chief Minister in 2004 and Jagan started venturing into many other businesses
including cement plants, infrastructure and media.
Jagan's political ambitions were first revealed in late 2004 when he
aspired to become an MP from his home turf Kadapa but the Congress high command
nipped that in the bud. He had to wait till 2009 to fulfil his dream and
make a formal political debut by winning the Kadapa Lok Sabha seat.
His father's tragic death in a helicopter crash in September 2009,
litreally changed everything for Jagan.
He wanted to succeed his late father to the Chief Minister's throne but
the Congress high command was unwilling to grant him the wish despite a
majority of legislators rallying behind him at that point.
Disillusioned, Jagan gradually began defying the Congress bosses and, by
early 2010 was meticulously charting his own course.
He took the 'Odarpu Yatra' path to build his political career
independently, much to the discomfiture of the ruling party.
Jagan's emergence as a "leader" began with the Odarpu Yatra as
he went round villages and districts to console families that lost their kin in
the aftermath of YSR's sudden death. In no time, his popularity graph shot
upwards while that of the ruling Congress' dipped gradually.
As the Congress objected to his yatra and rejected
"permission", Jagan decided to snap his association with the party.
The flashpoint came in November 2010 when the Congress made N Kiran Kumar Reddy the Chief Minister of AP in place of
ageing K Rosaiah in an ostensible bid to effectively counter Jagan.
On November 29, 2010, Jagan called it quits and walked out of the
Congress, which his father loyally served for three decades, and also resigned
from his Lok Sabha membership.
In March 2011, Jagan announced the setting up of his own Yuvajana Sramika
Rythu Congress -- YSR Congress -- throwing a challenge primarily at Congress
and also Telugu Desam Party.
He won the by-election to Kadapa Lok Sabha seat with a record margin of
over five lakh votes in May 2011 while his mother Y S
Vijaya won the Pulivendula Assembly seat in an emphatic fashion.
Ever since, the YSR Congress became the thorn in the flesh of the
Congress particularly in Andhra-Rayalaseema regions of the state.
The Congress survived a biggest scare to its government in December last
when 16 of its MLAs -- owing allegiance to Jagan -- voted in support of a
no-confidence motion moved by the TDP but the (erstwhile) Praja Rajyam and
Majlis parties saved the day.
In the by-elections in March, the Congress faced a complete rout when it
lost all the seven seats, six of them in Telangana and one in coastal Andhra.
By winning the lone seat in coastal Andhra, the YSR Congress sent the first
warning signal to the Congress as well as the TDP on the things in store.
Now, as the state heads for by-elections to one Lok Sabha and 18 Assembly
seats on June 12, the YSR Congress is the clear favourite to win the elections,
which could spell doom for the Congress government.
Jagan has now set his eyes clearly on the Chief Minister's chair and
appears confident of making it to the hot seat in the next general elections to
the state Assembly whenever they are held. He may not have to wait till 2014
for that.
