YSR Congress party headed by outgoing Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy might have won just four Lok Sabha seats in the latest general elections, but even this small number has become very crucial in the formation of the government at the Centre.
All the four MPs – Y S Avinash Reddy from Kadapa, Maddila Gurumurthy from Tirupati, P Mithun Reddy from Rajampet and Tanuja Rani from Araku (ST) constituencies – are the most sought after group in the national politics for now.
Though for now the National Democratic Alliance led by Narendra Modi has got adequate numbers to form the government at the Centre, it might collapse if any two or three of the major NDA partners withdraw their support.
The Congress-led INDIA bloc, which has 239 seats in Lok Sabha, requires another 33 seats to form the government at the Centre. So, it is looking for neutral players who can come to its support in the formation of government.
Against this backdrop, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi is learnt to have made a telephonic call to the YSRCP president and invited him to join the INDIA bloc, so that it would get some more weight.
But Jagan is learnt to have declined the invitation rather politely, saying he has no interest whatsoever in joining hands with any coalition at the Centre at this stage. He said he had to focus on rebuilding the party base and revive it in the coming days.
Jagan is obviously angry with the Congress party. First, he won’t forget the humiliation he had faced when he was in the Congress.
Secondly, he has not forgotten how the Congress high command targeted him and sent him to jail for 16 months in the CBI cases.
Thirdly, he is terribly angry with the Congress high command for instigating his sister Y S Sharmila against him in the recent elections by appointing her as the AP Congress Committee president.
So, there is no way Jagan will help the Congress to form the government at the Centre!
