YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, even though crushed to pulp in the recent elections, is trying to rise, an act he is good at.
Published Jul 24, 2024 | 5:00 PM ⚊ Updated Jul 24, 2024 | 5:00 PM
Akhilesh Yadav speaking during the YSRCP protest. (Supplied)
The efforts of YS Jagan Mohan Reddy seemed to have paid off when he organised a dharna at Jantar Mantar in Delhi on Wednesday, 24 July, to turn the violence unleashed allegedly by the ruling TDP in Andhra Pradesh against YSRP activists into a national issue.
He has successfully made a virtue of adversity.
Till Wednesday afternoon, barring the Congress, several constituents of the Opposition INDIA bloc visited the protest camp.
The most prominent among them was former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav who spent considerable time at the camp, sharing the concern of Jagan Mohan Reddy at the turn of the events in Andhra Pradesh.
Akhilesh, after going through the photo and video gallery at the Dharna camp which captured the incidents of violence in Andhra Pradesh, later said that he condemned the “lawlessness” and pointed out that there was no room for violence in a democracy.
Drawing a parallel to Andhra Pradesh, he said the situation was no different in his home state of Uttar Pradesh.
He said he was supporting Jagan Mohan Reddy as he is trying to rouse the consciousness of the people and political parties against violence by the TDP in Andhra Pradesh, he said.
The representatives of the parties who visited the Dharna camp and expressed their solidarity with Jagan Mohan Reddy included Ramgopal Yadav (SP), Sanjay Raut, Priyanka Chaturvedi, Arvind Sawant (Shiv Sena UBT), Nadeem Ul Haque (TMC), Thambi Durai (AIADMK), and PV Abdul Wahab (Indian Union Muslim League).
It was obvious why no Congress leader turned up at the dharna camp since the YSRCP is its political rival in Andhra Pradesh.
In fact, YS Sharmila, Jagan Mohan Reddy’s sister, is heading the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee and fought unsuccessfully against YSRCP in the recent general elections for Lok Sabha from Kadapa.
Jagan Mohan Reddy, after the murder of YSRCP activist Abdul Rasheed in Vinukonda last week allegedly by the TDP workers, condemned the “reign of terror unleashed by the TDP” in the state.
After visiting the victim’s family in Vinukonda, he decided to organise a protest at Delhi to draw the attention of the entire nation to the draconian rule of the TDP in the state.
Since he has been left a loner in Andhra Pradesh as he is neither in NDA nor in the INDIA, he apparently decided that he should male new friends with other political parties and shifted the venue of his protest to Delhi.
The former chief minister, ahead of the commencement of the budget session of the Parliament, called a meeting of his MPs and asked them to organise the protest at Delhi when the House was in session.
He asked them to invite all parties except the TDP to the day long Dharna camp at the national capital.
Jagan, recovering the humiliating defeat he suffered in the hands of the TDP in the June general elections, is now trying to hit back at the yellow party.
On Monday, when the budget session of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly was about to begin, contrary to the expectation that he would give the session a miss, he arrived wearing dark shawls and placards.
The former chief minster entered into a heated exchange with officials when they snatched the placards and banners and tore them away.
Later in the house, the YSRCP, though it has only 11 members, protested against the “wave of violence let loose by the TDP” targeting YSRCP workers, staged a walk out.
On Tuesday night itself, all YSRCP legislators left for Delhi while the its Raya Sabha and Lok Sabha MPs were already present there for the budget session of Parliament.
As most of the visitors to the camp were from non-NDA players, political circles were curious if he was trying to cozy up with the INDIA bloc.
However, it is highly improbable as he cannot afford to offend the BJP at this time with his vastly impoverished strength both in the Assembly and Lok Sabha.
He needs the saffron party’s support very badly as long as the cases against him in the courts are still alive. At the moment, he is doing a tightrope walk, attacking a very important NDA partner — TDP — and at the same time being nice to the leader of the NDA, the BJP.
Though Jagan Mohan Reddy has only 11 members in the Assembly, the asset that he has which Chandrababu Naidu does not is his age, even though both of them are equally good in fighting back in times of adversity.
Jagan Mohan Reddy, even though crushed to pulp in the recent elections, is trying to rise, an act he is good at.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil)
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