Andhra Pradesh minister Vivekananda Reddy on Thursday met his nephew Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy in the backdrop of political differences between them, and said they were part of one family despite the conflict in loyalties. The minister met Jagan, who arrived in Hyderabad from Kadapa district on Thursday morning, at the latter's residence.
But as voters gear up for crucial assembly and parliamentary polls on May 13, all eyes are on the high-stakes battle in Pulivendula, an assembly constituency that has been a Reddy family stronghold for over four decades.
Exigencies of electoral politics and individual ambitions often stoke family feuds and sibling rivalries.
Vivekananda, the brother of late Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and uncle of Jagan Reddy, was found dead at his residence in Pulivendula, on the night of March 15, 2019, weeks before the state assembly elections.
After post-mortem in the local government hospital, police confirmed the case was altered to Section 302 Indian Penal Code that relates to murder.
With some variations, all regional political formations, whether in power presently or out of it, share some common features: Tight family control of the political apparatus, key members in elected or appointed positions, obvious wealth but not quite known sources of income, and family factionalism, sometimes open and bitter, notes Shreekant Sambrani.
Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's wife Vijayalakshmi filed her nomination, on Tuesday, for the bypoll to Pulivendula assembly seat previously held by her late husband. Vijayalakshmi filed the nomination as Congress candidate.
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.
Amid speculation that Congress will neutralise the Jagan camp by accomodating some of his loyalists in the new Andhra Pradesh cabinet, the rebel Kadapa MP may find the going tough. For the 38-year-old son of former Chief Minister Y S R Reddy, who has been aspiring to become the CM, the increasing isolation may push him into breaking away from Congress and forming a new party, political analysts feel.
In what appears to be a setback for former Congress member of Parliament Jagan Mohan Reddy, his uncle Vivekananda Reddy on Tuesday made it clear that he will abide only by the Congress high command's orders. In a statement issued in Hyderabad, Reddy, brother of late Y S Rajashekhar Reddy, has dismissed the allegations made by his nephew that the Congress was trying to split the party.
''The fact that a huge crowd came when he had filed his nomination indicates his popularity,'' says Anjaneyulu of Pulivendla. ''He has cinema star-like glamour. As far as Cuddapah is considered, he is the king.''
Late Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's brother and Member of Legislative Council Y S Vivekananda Reddy on Tuesday began an indefinite hunger strike in Hyderabad in support of a united state.
Andhra Pradesh will witness another son rise on the political horizon. Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, the only son of Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy is getting ready to take a plunge and contest the elections from the Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency, a family fiefdom for decades.
Political parties and the journalists unions which kept quiet over the arrest of two reporters in connection with the report on the Director General of Police V dinesh Reddy's visit to a godman in the old city of Hyderabad have swung into action after the police booked cases against the editor and resident editor of The Hindu newspaper.
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