Jaganmohan Reddy Resigned

Kadapa:Kadapa MP Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy, son of former Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, has announced his resignation as Member of Parliament from Kadapa constituency and from the Congress party. Jagan’s mother Vijayalakshmi has also resigned as member of the state assembly.

As a mark of solidarity, the Kadapa District Congress Committee (DCC) president K. Suresh Babu, and all office-bearers tendered their resignations and sat in a dharna outside the party office. The protestors locked the DCC office, tore a large cut-out of Ms. Sonia Gandhi and beat it with footwear. In Anantapur too, Mr. Jagan’s followers burnt an effigy of Ms. Gandhi and made an abortive bid to attack the DCC office.

According to a top aide, the rebel MP is likely to float his own party. Youth Sramik Ryot (YSR Congress) is likely to be the name of the new political outfit. Jaganmohan submitted an open resignation letter to the Speaker of the Loksabha on Monday. Jagan in a 5-page open letter alleged that Congress humiliated him and his family. “I always accepted high command dictats. Odarpu was my personal issue. I am pained at Congress high command’s attitude. What mistake did I commit? Hence, decided to quit from Lok Sabha,” Jagan said.

Jagan’s mother Vijayalakshmi has also resigned as member of the state assembly. She was elected unopposed from Pulivendula constituency in Kadapa district in December last year, following the death of her husband in a helicopter crash. The channel, owned by Jagan, raised the hackles of the party leadership by targeting Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi.

For the 38-year-old son of former chief minister YSR Reddy, who has been aspiring to become the CM, the increasing isolation from the party reportedly pushed him into breaking away from Congress and is now likely to form a new party of his own. Jagan’s uncle and member of Legislative Council, Y S Vivekananda Reddy, YSR’s brother, has rubbed salt to Jaganmohan Reddy’s injury by offering to “patch up” the strained relationship between his nephew and the Congress high command by “expressing our regret over the episodes telecast on Sakshi television channel.”

Vivekananda’s move has only left a defiant Jagan more embarrassed even as his camp tried to do some damage control by announcing that their leader had done nothing wrong that warranted any explanation to the high command. By distancing itself from Vivekananda’s statement, his camp desperately sought to send a message that Jagan would not buckle under pressure.