The way YSR Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is ignoring several seniors of the party in the distribution of party tickets and taking key decisions ahead of the assembly elections has become a matter of discussion in the political circles.
Several seniors like Mopidevi Venkata Ramana, Pilli Subhash Chandra Bose, Balineni Srinivas Reddy, Alla Ramakrishna Reddy and Alla Nani, who once have been the backbone of the party in their respective areas are now sulking.
While Alla Ramakrishna Reddy has quit the party, others have stopped showing interest in the party activities. Even ministers like Botsa Satyanarayana and Dharmana Prasada Rao have been confined to only to their areas, rather than bothering about overall situation in the party.
For that matter, YSRC general secretary V Vijay Sai Reddy and former Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams chairman Y V Subba Reddy have not been exceeding their briefs, as a handful of people who are surrounding Jagan are calling the shots.
Added to this, even the existing party loyalists are surprised over the way Jagan has started changing the party candidates in the constituencies, based on the reports submitted by political strategist group I-PAC and his own party intelligence wing.
“He appears to be under the impression that the people would go only by his face value and the welfare schemes he has been implementing in the last five years. So, he is not involving any of his seniors in the decision making process,” a source close to the party said.
A few close aides are even openly voicing their disappointment over being sidelined, while others resigned and revolted against him.
“But what he seems to have forgotten that many of the seniors had played a prominent role during his father Y S Rajasekhar Reddy’s regime and have a lot of clout in their respective domains,” sources said.
Sources said Jagan doesn’t want several YSRCP leaders to be equal in stature to him.
“For him, politics is business and so, he goes beyond personal relationships. He is keener on getting the people’s mandate, rather than appeasing the seniors, a trait witnessed in the Congress party in general,” sources added.
