According to the YSRCP sources, Jagan Mohan Reddy, after his debacle in the elections, has been contemplating going to the Lok Sabha.
Published Jul 12, 2024 | 9:00 AM ⚊ Updated Jul 13, 2024 | 9:33 AM
Avinash Reddy with AP Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. (YsAvinashYouth/Facebook)
It looks as though former Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and his cousin and Kadapa MP Avinash Reddy are on a collision course.
After the YSRCP was pulverised in the recent Assembly elections in the state, no one envies Jagan Mohan Reddy now as he tries to take on Chandrababu Naidu and Pawan Kalyan who would be breathing down his neck for the kind of campaign of calumny he carried out against them when he was the chief minister.
Above all that, the disproportionate cases against him in the Anti-Corrupion Bureau (ACB) court are also haunting him.
As he is not even the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the state Assembly — with only 11 MLAs in the House against the mandatory 10 percent of the seats which works out to 18 seats in a house of 175 members — he is very vulnerable, if the CBI decides to oppose his bail in the court.
Earlier, in his capacity as the chief minister and leveraging his covert relations with the BJP, he was postponing the dark and foreboding prospect of going up the river.
Now, he does not have that kind of defence with his Lok Sabha strength too reduced to a mere four while the TDP and Jana Sean are baying for his blood.
According to the YSRCP sources, Jagan Mohan Reddy, after his Himalayan debacle in the elections, has been contemplating going to the Lok Sabha. He wants to contest from the Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency, which is the YSR family’s pocket borrow.
However, incumbent MP Avinash Reddy is not prepared to make way for Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Avinash Reddy is understood to have told Jagan Mohan Reddy that there was no question of him resigning.
Jagan Mohan Reddy remained a godfather figure rather than a cousin to him when the CBI was bearing down on him for his alleged role in the murder of their uncle YS Vivekananda Reddy, ahead of the 2019 elections.
However, Avinash Reddy is not in the mood to step down to make way for the former chief minister. Sources said that Jagan Mohan Reddy wants to be in Lok Sabha rather than the Assembly.
In the Assembly, he is certain to face humiliation from the TDP and Jana Sena members as he has just 10 members excluding himself. There is no way he could put up a spirited fight against the ruling coalition.
Apart from this, it would be helpful if he is an MP. That way, he could try to be close to the NDA and make an effort to persuade the BJP to help him out even as CBI is closing in on him with a menace.
He could also have a better grip on his MPs — 11 Rajya Sabha and four Lok Sabha members — who might be toying with the idea of switching to saffron robes.
In fact, Avnisha Reddy is understood to have told Jagan Mohan Reddy that there was no question of him resigning since he was contemplating joining the BJP to get protection from the CBI, which was in striking distance of arresting him in Kurnool some time ago.
At that time, it was Jagan Mohan Reddy who came to his rescue by interceding with the BJP leaders in Delhi. Despite that, expecting Avinash Reddy to step down as MP and remain on the road without any protection appears quite unlikely.
In the recent Lok Sabha elections, Avinash Reddy won from Kadapa, bucking the pro-TDP wave despite the presence of YS Sharmila, who was on a Congress ticket and split the YSRCP;s votes.
Avinash Reddy won the seat by polling 6,05,143 votes, with a margin of 62,695 votes over his nearest TDP rival CB Subbarami Reddy even though Sharmila had polled 1,41,039 votes, by cutting into YSRCP’s support base.
For Jagan Mohan Reddy, only Kadapa promises victory, but Avinash Reddy is not ready to step down.
Apart from this, after the YSRCP lost all its sheen in the recent elections, the Congress hopes to wrest the seat in case there is a by-election.
When Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy visited Andhra Pradesh recently, he said that if there is going to be a by-election for Kadapa, he would campaign for Sharmila by going into every lane and by-lane in all the villages in the constituency.
He had said only Sharmila deserves YSR’s legacy and not Jagan Mohan Reddy. It remains to be seen how Jagan Mohan Reddy would pick his way to safety, walking through this maze.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil)
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