Cong MPs blame Jagan Mohan

Did former Andhra Pradesh chief minister (CM) the late YS Rajasekhara Reddy’s son Jagan Mohan tacitly work to thwart the attempt to create a separate Telangana state? If the pro-Telangana lobby in the party is to be believed, the member of Lok Sabha from Kadapa, in the reckoning for CM’s post since YSR’s death in a helicopter crash, is the man behind the united-Andhra campaign.

As the Telangana crisis deepened on Thursday following the Centre’s announcement to hold more consultations on the issue, Congress MPs from the region claimed, “The same people who tried to blackmail the party [on the issue of chief ministership] earlier, are responsible for this situation.”

Madhu Goud Yaskhi said, “Parliamentarians, including central ministers from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema [most of whom were behind the ‘Jagan-for-CM’ campaign), defied the party decision on Telangana and resorted to blackmail.” The Nizamabad MP also blamed the Congress’ Rajya Sabha member KVP Ramachandra Rao, a close aide of YSR, for orchestrating the “en masse resignations of legislators from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema”.