Kadapa bypoll: YS Jagan won by 5,45,672 majority

YSR Congress president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy has proved that he was the real heir to the political legacy of his father late chief minister YSR Reddy.

He won the Kadapa Lok Sabha bypoll fray with an unprecedented majority of 5.45 lakh votes, breaking the record of the former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao’s victory in 1991 from Nandyal Lok Sabha constituency. Both his main opponents D L Ravindra Reddy of Congress and M V Mysoora Reddy of the Telugu Desam Party lost their deposits in a fiercely fought by-election.

Not to be left behind Jagan’s mother Vijaya Lakshmi also won from Pulivendula assembly constituency riding on a sympathy wave. She won with a thumping majority of 81,373 votes over her brother-in-law Y S Vivekanand Reddy. She broke the record of her husband’s previous victory margin of more than 68,000 (during 2009 elections) votes.

Jagan swept through all the seven assembly segments of the Lok Sabha constituency proving that it remains a YSR family pocket-borough. He secured a clear majority of 70147 votes in Mydukur constituency, from which present health minister D L Ravindra Reddy representing to assembly. He got a majority of 1,08,157 votes from Pulivendula, 61463 votes from Badvel, 63972 votes from Kamalapuram, 67785 votes from Kadapa, 67,483 votes from Jammalamadugu and 74771 votes from Proddatur assembly constituency.

Though Jaganmohan Reddy’s victory was largely anticipated but the final figures were beyond everybody’s expectations. While the 38-year-old Jagan polled 687068votes, Ravindra Reddy of Congress got 144015 and M V Mysoora Reddy of the TDP got 127183 votes.

Jagan also bettered his 2009 victory margin of 1.78 lakh when he had made his electoral debut under the leadership of his father.
While the Congress was shell shocked over the by poll outcome, there were huge celebrations in YSR Congress. Thousands of Jagan supporters were dancing on the streets in Kadapa and Pulivendula, bursting crackers, distributing sweets and shouting slogans of “Jai Jagan”.

Ministers should resign

In its first reaction to the outcome, the YSR Congress party has demanded the resignation of all the 16 state ministers who had campaigned against Jagan in Kadapa. Party spokesperson Ambatti Ram Babu said, “16 ministers with the Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy and future chief minister Chiranjeevi campaigned against Jagan but they could not save the deposit of their candidate. If they have any shame, they should resign immediately. At least Ravindra Reddy should quit the cabinet,” he said.

The thumping victory of Jagan has created a stir in the state politics and talk of possible realignment of political forces in the state has begun. Especially the Congress MLAs, who were sitting on the wall biding for the time has also started rethinking about their options.