Jagan Mohan Reddy News, Jagan Reddy Political News Update, Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy Latest News

Jagan Mohan Reddy News, Jagan Reddy Political News Update, Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy Latest News

As the Congress closes ranks and tries to dismiss the Jagan factor in Andhra Pradesh, the rebel Reddy is in Kadapa district with his mother, Vijayalaxmi, and will visit the YSR samadhi there to pay respects to the former chief minister. Jagan Mohan Reddy quit the Congress and as the Kadapa MP on Monday.
 
The party has a tricky task ahead and leaders insist that Jagan's exit will have no impact on the Congress in Andhra Pradesh.  Consolidation is key as the party works out a new cabinet that will please as many people as possible. The crucial cabinet formation exercise will take place on Wednesday and there are fears that those left out will gravitate towards YSR's son.
 
Jagan has publicly asked the MLAs who support him not to resign from the Congress. He would need 53 MLAs to split the party and at the moment sources in his camp say they do not have the support of more than 30. They do hope that number will increase after December 1. 
 
Because of Jagan's pro-unified-Andhra stance, only one of the 50-odd Congress MLAs from the Telangana region supports him. His support base is essentially drawn from the other two regions. If Jagan were to manage to the split the party, the Congress could then look to the Prajya Rajyam Party (PRP),  Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) and the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) for outside support to the government.
 
There was talk of Chiranjeevi's Praja Rajyam Party, with its 18 MLAs, filling the Jagan void, but the actor-turned politician has decided to stay out of the government for now, with talks falling through on ministerial berths. Sources said Chiranjeevi wanted four ministries, but the Congress was loath to give him that many.
 
There are also doubts over whether Chiru can deliver the 18 MLAs en bloc. At least four of them are openly with Jagan.
 
The next bit of action is now expected on Wednesday, when the new Andhra Pradesh cabinet of Kiran Kumar Reddy will be sworn in.  Jagan will be watching the proceedings from Kadapa district, where he shall remain on Tuesday and Wednesday.

All eyes may be trained on how Jaganmohan Reddy weans away MLAs from the Congress, but the scion of the YSR family is quietly trying to lure legislators of Chiranjeevi's Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) to his camp.

According to sources, Jagan is in talks with at least four PRP MLAs. Chiranjeevi's party has 18 MLAs, so Jagan needs to win only six of them to split the PRP. Since the PRP is in talks with the Congress to join the Kiran Reddy government, this Jagan initiative could affect the ruling party's plan to use the superstar to stabilize the government.

Sources said that in this PRP-breaking initiative Jagan is also being helped by the Gali Reddy brothers from neighbouring Karnataka. The brothers, who are mine owners, are part of the BJP government in that state.

It is also believed that Jagan already has around 35 MLAs with him, but is not deliberately playing this up. "He is waiting to see if he can raise the number of MLAs in his kitty to 52, which is one-third of the 156 MLAs that the Congress has in Andhra Pradesh. This will help to take care of the Election Commission rules which stipulate that a party can be said to have broken away if one-third of the MLAs walk out," an analyst said.

Jagan is also not averse to trying his hand at persuading MLAs from the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) to defect to his camp. "The chances of this are less, the TDP being an organised party. But some MLAs are bound to fall to the inducements from the Jagan camp," a source said. Chiranjeevi's PRP, being a new party, does not have a strong ideological and organisational base that makes legislators vulnerable. Many of them had become MLAs after spending huge amounts of money.

Meanwhile, Jagan's ability to persuade Congress MLAs has been reduced with Kiran Reddy at the helm. A large number of Congress MLAs belong to the Reddy caste, and they aver that with Kiran Reddy as the boss, their caste interests will be taking care of. So they would not easily side with Jagan, though they would do so if a non-Reddy chief minister held sway. This is the reason Jagan's efforts to wean away Congress MLAs are concentrated on Dalits and legislators of other backward castes (OBCs).

It is not known if the Reddy brothers' initiative to help Jagan in Andhra Pradesh is their individual intiiative or whether it has the blessings of the BJP bosses in New Delhi. However after its maiden government in south India, the BJP has been looking for a foray into Andhra Pradesh. The party only has two MLAs in the 294-member Andhra Pradesh assembly.

• Prev