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 police in Warangal district recovered 10 kgs of explosives attached to a timer at Mahbubabad bus stand on Thursday, a day before the controversial tour of Kadapa Member of Parliament Y S Jaganmohan Reddy to the region, amid strong opposition from almost all the political parties.
The ruling Congress party in Andhra Pradesh is caught in a state of confusion on how to deal with the resignations of its 24 members of Legislative Assembly, who are loyal to YSR Congress president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy. For the record, the party has been saying that by-elections are inevitable in those 24 constituencies and two others from where Telugu Desam Party rebel MLAs have also resigned in support of Jagan.
The ruling Congress in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday appeared to be heading for fresh trouble with 29 MLAs loyal to Y S Jaganmohan Reddy deciding to quit in protest against mention of late YSR's name in the FIR of CBI in its probe in the case related to the Kadapa MP.
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.
The spectre of political instability has raised its head in Andhra Pradesh with the Kadapa Member of Parliament YS Jaganmohan Reddy quitting the Congress party. Now all the eyes are riveted on him to see how many Congress MLAs in the state will follow in his footstep, reports Mohammed Siddique.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy on Saturday extended an olive branch to rebel Member of Parliament Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, who is facing mounting criticism due to the anti-party campaign by his TV channel.Kiran Reddy, who is in New Delhi for discussions with the high command on the constitution of his cabinet, said it was for the party high command to decide on whether to take any disciplinary action against Jagan.
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.
Reddy, whose party stormed to power with a landslide victory in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday, is likely to discuss providing outside or issue-based support to the Modi government in the meeting, sources said on Saturday.
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.
AP Minister Konda Surekha recently resigned to protest the Congress leadership's reluctance to appoint Y S Jaganmohan Reddy as Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's successor.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
The campaign for making Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, son of the late Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Rajasekhara Reddy, gathered pace on Friday with his supporters losing no time and taking up the issue with Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
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.
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.
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.
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".
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.
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.
Congress lawmakers from Telangana met senior party leader and Defence Minister A K Antony on Tuesday demanding disciplinary action against Y S Jaganmohan Reddy for joining a Telugu Desam Party protest in Lok Sabha against the decision to carve out a separate state from Andhra Pradesh.
The fissures in the Congress over the Telangana issue came to the fore in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday when Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, along with some other party Members of Parliament, joined a Telugu Desam Party protest against the decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh. Jaganmohan, son of late Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, even stormed the well of the House, joining the TDP members. The TDP members were carrying placards saying 'We want united Andhra Pradesh'.
The Congress' move to checkmate rebel Member of Parliament Y S Jaganmohan Reddy's yatra does not seem to have had the desired effect.
Seeking to take the wind out of defiant Y S Jaganmohan Reddy's sails, Congress on Monday announced Rs 1 lakh each to the families of those who committed suicide in the wake of the death of then Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and his father Y S Rajasekhar Reddy.
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar rejected the resignations submitted by 13 MPs from Andhra Pradesh, including ten from Congress and two of YSR Congress, against the decision on Telangana, holding these were "not voluntary or genuine". The YSR Congress MPs included party chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy.
An organisational portfolio in the Andhra Pradesh unit of the Congress party seems to be all that Y S Jaganmohan Reddy--son of late chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy--will get for the time being. Halting his aspirations of taking over the mantle from his father, the Congress high command has decided to continue with current Chief Minister K Rosaiah for the time being.
Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, whose supporters have been campaigning for making him the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, on Thursday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who told him to leave the issue of leadership change in Andhra Pradesh to her.
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.
Dr K V P Ramachandra Rao, adviser to the late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and the man believed to be behind the open campaign for making Y S Jaganmohan Reddy as Andhra Pradesh's next Chief Minister, on Tuesday said Congress President Sonia Gandhi has promised to look into the leadership issue.
In the eye of a storm ever since he defied the high command, Congress MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy on Tuesday claimed the party has given the "go-ahead" to him to continue with his tour of Telangana region and that all issues have been sorted out.
Breaking his silence on the Telangana issue, Kadapa Member of Parliament Y S Jaganmohan Reddy on Tuesday said he stands for a united Andhra Pradesh and alleged that the Telugu Desam Party and its chief N Chandrababu Naidu were responsible for the current situation in the state.
The photo, downloaded from Internet and published in the Sunday edition of the paper, showed Jesus holding a cigarette in one hand and a beer can in the other. It evoked angry reaction from the Christian minority and the community members staged a protest demonstration and ransacked the offices of the newspaper at several places across the state.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy on Friday promised to allot five acres of land in the port city of Visakhapatnam to ace shuttler P V Sindhu for setting up a badminton academy for girls.
When the figure figured in the cabinet meeting, Dr Rajasekhar Reddy left the meeting hall, leaving the issue to be discussed by his cabinet colleagues. The cabinet unanimously approved the allotment.