The Congress Member of Parliament from Kadapah Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, who made an unsuccessful bid to become the Andhra Pradesh chief minister after his father Y S Rajasekhara Reddy died in an air crash, made a debut as the party's star campaigner for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy on Tuesday said former Congress member of Parliament Jaganmohan Reddy's decision of floating a new political party will not affect the Congress in the state.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi has summoned Andhra Chief Minister K Rosaiah to New Delhi on Saturday to discuss the future of member of Parliament Jaganmohan Reddy, son of late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, and his supporters.
Congress MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy was on Friday forced to abandon his tour of Telangana region after he was taken into preventive custody at a railway station in Nalgonda district following violence and police firing that left 16 people injured.
The Congress saw no hand of Y S Jaganmohan Reddy in the rebellion in newly constituted Andhra Pradesh ministry over the allocation ofportfolios and expressed confidence that it will soon be over. "It's not some kind of a Jagan plot. It could be a bargain tactic to take advantage of the tough situation," a senior party leader, who declined to be identified, said.
YS Vivekanand Reddy, uncle of YS Jaganmohan Reddy who resigned from the Congress on Monday in the wake of differences with the party high command, has joined the new cabinet in Andhra Pradesh.
In addition to the financial and governance challenge in the state, Andhra Pradesh Governor K K Reddy has to contend with one other -- Jaganmohan reddy
A legislator from his native Chittoor district in the Rayalaseema region of the state, 50-year-old Reddy will have to also use all his political acumen to take on the challenge posed by Congress' rebel Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy.
YSR Congress president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy has proved that he was the real heir to the political legacy of his father late Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy.
The Congress in Andhra Pradesh may complete its term with Jaganmohan Reddy, making it clear that he would like his party to play the role of an opposition in Andhra Pradesh.
The worst flood in Andhra Pradesh, which left a trail of death and destruction, has dampened the campaign to make late Andhra Chief Minister YS Rajashekhara Reddy's son Jaganmohan Reddy the Chief Minister and helped interim CM K Rosaiah to consolidate his position.
Member of Parliament from Kadapa Y S Jaganmohan Reddy has appealed to Andhra Pradesh ministers and members of Legislative Assembly, who threatened to quit their posts if he was not made the chief minister, to observe "restraint" and "not embarrass the Congress high command".
YSR Congress, which is fourth largest party with 22 members in the 17th Lok Sabha, wants to maintain equidistance from both the ruling and opposition sides.
The declaration of a total wealth of Rs 446 crore by Jagan and his wife Bharati in the affidavit filed along with Jagan's nomination has created a big flutter in the political circles throughout the country, as he will be the richest member of Lok Sabha if he gets re-elected.
Thousands of people, led by Congress leader Jaganmohan Reddy, paid tribute to his father and late Andhra Pradesh chief minister Dr Y S Rajashekhar Reddy on his death anniversary on Thursday.
The Congress party is upset with Jaganmohan Reddy's Odarpu Yatra and the axe is likely to fall soon. This fact came to light when a member of Parliament from Andhra Pradesh wrote to party president Sonia Gandhi about the structure of Reddy's proposed Odarpu Yatra (condolence tour) and the politics behind it
The enrollment of 32 lakh new members of Congress in Andhra Pradesh recently has given the party's top brass and state unit a reason to smile. The Congress' Andhra unit has been struggling with the open revolt declared by Member of Parliament Jaganmohan Reddy and is facing the possibility of a split in the party.All India Congress Committee general secretary Oscar Fernandes has also expressed his satisfaction with the party's membership drive in the last 10 months.
'On one hand he lays the foundation stone to commemorate YSR's death anniversary and on the other he conspires against the same family,' says rebel Congress leader Ambati Rambabu.
Terming as "very cruel" the way bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh was done, YSR Congress Party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy on Wednesday said that he has kept open all options on post-poll alliance.
The Andhra Pradesh Crime Investigation Department (CID) sleuths seized computer hard disks and CDs from Sakshi TV office in Hyderabad on Saturday in connection with the news story on former chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy's death.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Saturday virtually dared former Congress Member of Parliament S Jaganmohan Reddy to pull down his government, bluntly telling him that he was not at his mercy.
The chief minister reportedly poured out his anguish over the MP's open outbursts, against the Congress leadership in general and him in particular, when a handful of MLAs met him in his chambers in the state assembly. Many MLAs lined up to meet Rosaiah as the Assembly resumed after a two-day holiday and it was during this period that the recalcitrant Jagan launched the attack on the chief minister as well as the Congress leadership.
Former MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, who staged a show of strength in New Delhi on Tuesday, virtually dared the Congress to take action against its MLAs and MPs who are with him saying the Kiran Kumar Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh will fall if they withdraw support to it.
Gadikota Srikanth Reddy, Congress MLA from Kadapa in this interview with rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa, says that it is a wrong image that is being portrayed in the media that the Congress in AP is against Jagan.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah today said Congress would take stock of the manner in which Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy was conducting his yatra in Srikakulam district.
Congress on Wednesday downplayed the defiance by Y S Jaganmohan Reddy who resumed his 'yatra', saying it was not worried by the issue related to "one MP" who could be indulging in "childish behaviour".
By-elections to 12 assembly seats in Telangana region on July 27 and the obvious power game in the ruling Congress party in Andhra Pradesh have risen the political temperature in the state.
In a big setback to the chief ministerial ambitions of YS Jaganmohan Reddy, the Congress high command has decided to ignore his claim over a ticket for the by-elections to the Pulivendula Assembly constituency which fell vacant due after his father Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's death. Instead, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has decided to field YSR's widow and Jagan's mother Vijayalakshmi as Congress candidate in Pulivendula, where by election will be held on December 19.
The former Congress MP also told his supporters in his hometown Pulivendula near Kadapa that the 2014 assembly elections in the state would be his "finals".
As the son of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YSR Reddy, Jaganmohan Reddy enjoyed tremendous clout in the state and a good amount of respect in New Delhi. But only nine months after his father's sudden demise, young MP from Kadapa is fast becoming a man with no friends.
Rattled by the open defiance of its leader Y S Jaganmohan Reddy in Andhra Pradesh, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Saturday asked Praja Rajyam Party president Chiranjeevi not to field any nominees for the Rajya Sabha polls, so that there is no threat to party candidates.Chiranjeevi, who met Gandhi on her invitation, assured her that he would get back within two days after holding talks with party leaders.
Amid a stand-off with Congress leadership, rebel Andhra Pradesh MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy on Monday resigned from his Lok Sabha seat and announced his decision to quit the party alleging that the Congress "humiliated" his family and tried to drive a "wedge" in it.
In the first signs of political trouble in Andhra Pradesh's ruling Congress party, the state minister for women and child welfare Konda Surekha tendered her resignation to the state governor ND Tiwari on Thursday evening.
A day after airing a news story criticising the Congress and its chief Sonia Gandhi, Sakshi television channel owned by Kadapa Member of Parliament Y S Jaganmohan Reddy took a U-turn on Sunday, re-telecasting it after deleting adverse references to her and claiming that it had not targeted her.
Jagan's public statement is being seen as an indication that Sonia Gandhi had managed to settle the issue of Andhra Pradesh leadership in her hour-long discussion with Jagan and Rosaiah will remain in his post while Jagan will be given some other responsibility.
The power struggle in Andhra Pradesh Congress party continuing since the sudden death of Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy is fast heading towards its climax as there are indications that the party's central leadership will invite YSR's son and a claimant of CM's gaddi Jaganmohan Reddy to Delhi to strike out a compromise formula.
The demand for making Kadappa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy the state chief minister in place of his late father Y S Rajasekhara Reddy took an ugly turn with his supporters in the name of Jagan Yuva Sena allegedly tearing down a huge banner carrying the pictures of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former minister Renuka Choudhary in the Khammam district Congress committee office.
In a survey conducted by Nielsen, for Telugu news channel NTV, an overwhelming 78 per cent of the electorate in Andhra Pradesh stated that they would like to see Jaganmohan Reddy succeed his father YSR Rajasekhara Reddy as the next chief minister. According to the survey, the results of which were also released by the Congress Legislature Party, caretaker Chief Minister K Rosaiah was second on the popularity chart with 13 per cent support.
Eleven of the 33 party MPs from Andhra Pradesh met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is expected to go to Hyderabad sometime later for resolving the issue, and put up their case that late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's son should be given the top job in the state.
Following is the statement issued by late Andhra Pradesh Chief minister's son YS Jaganmohan Reddy on Sunday, urging his supporters to immediately stop their campaign projecting him as the successor
