Has Jagan reached the point of no return?

Even as the state paid homage on Thursday to former chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy (YSR), who died in a helicopter crash on September 2 last year, the question that has been doing the rounds in the Andhra Pradesh political circles is whether his son and Congress MP from Kadapa, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, has reached the point of no return into the ruling party’s fold.

Bent upon claiming the political legacy of his father and keen to play the sympathy card to build his case, 38-year-old Reddy, an industrialist-turned-politician, is all set to defy the party’s diktat and resume his controversial ‘Odarpu Yatra’ (consolation tour) from Friday.

Though Reddy continues to maintain that the yatra is his personal programme exclusively meant for consoling the families of those who died of shock or committed suicide, its political overtones reveals the first-time MP's chief ministerial ambitions. The previous rounds of the yatra were turned into a show of his strength and the party leadership sees it as a campaign against chief minister, K Rosaiah.

With its warnings to the rebel leader against taking up the yatra going unheeded, the party cracked the whip by suspending Reddy’s close aide and state Congress general secretary, Ambati Rambabu, and issuing a show-cause notice to Konda Surekha, MLA and former minister, for indulging in anti-party activities. The party leadership had also sent out a message to legislators not to take part in the yatra.

A couple of days ago, the party leadership again made an attempt to take the wind out of Reddy’s sails by offering to provide a compensation of Rs 1 lakh each to the families of those who committed suicide following YSR’s death. On YSR’s death anniversary on Thursday, the state government also organised various programmes in memory of the departed leader.

According to Congress sources, the compensation offer was the last opportunity given to Reddy to end the bitter stand-off between him and the party high command. Even some of the party leaders, who had been loyal to YSR and his son, too expressed the feeling that Reddy should tow the party line now.

Reddy, however, asserted the he would go ahead with his yatra by stating that extending mere financial assistance was not enough to mitigate the plight of the bereaved families. According to the tradition, “it is essential to meet the members, share their grief, wipe their tears and provide moral support,” he said.

The defiant stance of Reddy against the party high command has led to speculations that he is planning to split the Congress in the state and float his own outfit. In that case, it remains to be seen how many legislators and MPs will go with him.

Meanwhile, Veerappa Moily, Union Law Minister and AICC general secretary in charge of AP, visited Idupulapaya, the native place of YSR, to pay floral tributes at the samadhi of the former chief minister. He later had a meeting with Reddy and YSR's wife Vijayamma. He, however, did not disclose what transpired at the meeting.

At present, Congress has a slender majority with 156 legislators in the 294-member Assembly. Probably, keeping this in mind and apprehensive of Reddy's moves, Congress has now extended a friendly hand to actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi whose Praja Rajyam Party has 18 legislators.

Soon after the death of YSR, the loyalists of the political stalwart collected the signatures of over 140 legislators in support of the demand to anoint his son as chief minister. The situation is completely different now with many of them changing their mind and towing the line of the party high command, which made septuagenarian Rosaiah the chief minister.