Y S Jagan to meet Akhilesh and Mulayam in Lucknow today

The visit is a part of his stated objective of mobilising opinion against the 'arbitrary usage of Article 3' of the Constitution

YSR Congress Party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy took the trial court permission to visit Lucknow to meet Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and his father Mulayam Singh Yadav this afternoon.

This visit is a part of his stated  objective of mobilising the opinion against the 'arbitrary usage of Article 3' of the Constitution that empowers Government of India to create new states.

Jagan has already taken permission to visit Chennai on Wednesday to meet Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa on the same issue. So far he had met West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Odisha chief minister Navin Patnaik, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena leader Udhav Thakare among other leaders.

Jagan is using the opportunity to strike a rapport with the national as well as the regional leaders as the general elections are a few months away. His party took a U turn by opposing the state bifurcation in a bid to consolidate the party's position in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema districts in the coming general elections.

On Tuesday, Jagan has filed a special petition under section 205 of CrPC before the special CBI court, seeking exemption from personal appearance during the hearings in the quid pro quo investment case in which he is the prime accused. He was released on bail from a local jail on September 24 after spending 16 months in judicial remand.

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president and the India Cements managing director V Srinivasan, who also appeared before the trial court on Tuesday,  filed a petition under section 305 of CrPC seeking permission to send an authorised representative to appear before the court in future.

For the first time the CBI special court has summoned close to 60 accused who were named in all the 10 charge sheets in Jagan case. A number of senior IAS officers former ministers and business personalities including state industries minister J Geeta Reddy appeared before the court. The judge has posted the next hearing on January 3, 2014.

Today's meeting with the Samajwadi Party leaders assumes significance as they opposed  the proposal for division of Uttar Pradesh. Apart from demanding the Centre to keep Andhra Pradesh united, he is also seeking the constitutional amendments to restrict the powers of the Centre under Article 3.