YS Jaganmohan Reddy has decided not to mince words on his claim for the post of Andhra Pradesh chief minister, vacant since the death of his father YS Rajshekhara Reddy. On Thursday he put his foot down, telling KVP Ramachandra Rao, YSR?s close friend of 43 years, that the party cannot ignore the wishes of the people. KVP, who is hectically lobbying in New Delhi for Jaganmohan, but with little success so far, now faces a tough predicament.
?Jaganmohan is pulling at KVP?s heartstrings. He is like a son to him and KVP cannot bring himself to be tough with him at the moment while he and his family are still in grief,?? said a member of the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee, who accompanied KVP to New Delhi, and is privy to his long talks with his aides in Hyderabad and with Jaganmohan.
While KVP has been instructed by the Congress high command to talk to Jaganmohan and rein in the ?make-Jagan-CM campaign?, he is unable to assert himself over Jaganmohan.
When KVP tried to cajole him, a dejected Jaganmohan is learnt to have requested him to consider the wishes of the people. ?You cannot ignore or stop them,?? Jaganmohan is learnt to have told KVP.
Meanwhile, the core group of Congress MLAs and ministers who don?t want to be seen as the only people who are demanding Jaganmohan as chief minister by the high command, have devised various strategies. After meeting Jaganmohan on Wednesday, representatives of the NSUI on Thursday held a programme at Gandhi Bhavan where they projected the stories of people who received assistance or help from YSR.
Warangal?s acid attack victim T Pranita who survived after several surgeries performed with financial assistance from the government made an emotional appeal at the NSUI meet for Jaganmohan. Another group brought in people who underwent expensive heart surgeries for free under the Rajiv Arogyashri to make the same appeal.
Though Jaganmohan issued an appeal on September 6 to halt the campaign to install him as YSR?s successor, he has been fuelling it by meeting MLAs, ministers, and delegations of Congress workers who are dropping in every day at the CM?s residence at Begumpet solely to assure him that they will keep up the pressure. ?At least a dozen ministers and several MLAs are making it a point to meet Jaganmohan daily, sometimes more than once, since the last four or five days. They come and brief Jaganmohan about developments taking place in Hyderabad and New Delhi,?? a source said.
YSR loyalists who earlier used to meet at government guesthouses or Congress headquarters are now found huddled at the CM?s camp office-cum-residence discussing their plans.
KVP, who first kicked off the campaign demanding that Jaganmohan be made the next CM, but is under pressure from the Congress high command to tone it down, finds himself in an uncomfortable situation vis a vis the high command. ?KVP hasn?t uttered a word to his aides and friends among ministers and MLAs about what transpired in the meeting with Sonia Gandhi. Though he informed her about the political situation in the state and the need to make Jaganmohan CM, he did not get any response. He is under pressure from both sides. He is convinced that Jaganmohan should succeed as CM but the high command isn?t. So KVP is stuck between the two,?? the source said.