Lobbying on to make YSR’s son CM

Efforts to anoint YS Rajasekhara Reddy’s son, Jaganmohan, 36, as the “natural political successor” to the deceased chief minister, which began even as the latter’s charred body was being airlifted from the jungles of Nallamalla forest on Thursday, have gathered steam with various lobbies pushing his case with the party high command.

In a surprise move, the state council of ministers, including the interim chief minister K Rosaiah, reportedly told party chief Sonia Gandhi that it had “no objection” to Jaganmohan’s elevation as the next chief minister. He is a first-time member of Parliament from Kadapa.

These unseemly attempts to project Jaganmohan as YSR’s successor have not gone down well with the Congress leadership. The party is particularly upset that some leaders of the Andhra Pradesh Congress cited the example of Rajiv Gandhi, who took over as prime minister after Indira Gandhi’s assassination. “How can you equate the two situations? This is not the Congress way of doing things,” said a senior Congress leader who had travelled to Hyderabad to condole the death of YSR.

The party high command thinks Jaganmohan is too raw to be entrusted with the leadership of the government. However, there is a vast amount of sympathy for him, and the Congress high command is well-disposed to the idea of giving him a senior position at the state level or even at the Centre. retain Rosaiah as chief minister.

But in Hyderabad, there was no stopping the moves and countermoves. Even as the funeral was underway, the names of several central leaders from the state were being bandied about as hot contenders. The names included Union ministers S Jaipal Reddy and Pallam Raju, Telugu Desam founder NT Rama Rao’s daughter Purandeshwari, and state leaders like former home minister Jana Reddy and AP Congress Committee leader D Srinivas.

The pro-Jaganmohan moves began within hours of the news of YSR’s death on Thursday. A group headed by party chief whip Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, and ministers Mukesh Goud, K Surekha and D Sridhar Babu, started working the wires to impress upon leaders in Delhi that there was no option but to hand over the reins to YSR’s son.

Even as Rosaiah, the senior-most member in YSR’s cabinet and veteran Congressman, was taking the oath as chief minister in Raj Bhavan in the presence of central ministers Veerappa Moily and Prithviraj Chouhan, 22 Congress MPs from the state trooped in from the neighbouring Lake View guest house to show their support for Jaganmohan’s candidature.

A signature campaign began in the evening when YSR’s body was just reaching Hyderabad around 6 pm. MLAs who came to pay homage to the dead leader were asked to sign up in Jaganmohan’s support. About 120 such signatures are said to have been gathered in this manner.

The Jaganmohan group is also alleged to have approached Praja Rajyam chief Chiranjeevi, who has 18 MLAs in the house, for support on Thursday. However, he is said to have parried the move, saying he would take a decision only after the mourning period was over.

The post-YSR situation could split the Reddy community that is the bedrock of Congress support currently. YSR himself was a Catholic and not all Reddys saw him as their leader. But his political clout ensured that there was no split in the Reddy camp. With YSR gone, things could change now. “JC Diwakar Reddy (former minister in YSR’s cabinet in 2004) is already gearing up to oppose Jaganmohan,” a senior member in the Pradesh Congress Committee said.

The anti-Jaganmohan camp has not been idle. Former MLA and party strongman from Rayalaseema, JC Diwakar Reddy, former home minister Jana Reddy, and former chief minister M Channa Reddy’s son and MLA from Sanatnagar, Marri Shashidhar Reddy, are now working on a plan to make the party leadership look at options other than Jaganmohan.

“The move could even hurt him (Jaganmohan) in the long run,” said a senior leader in this group, adding that Telengana would be a major factor in the high command’s calculus this time. There are 119 Telengana MLAs in the house, and their wishes cannot be ignored.

The math may not work out in Jaganmohan’s favour even if 120 MLAs are in favour of having him as chief minister. In a 294-strong state assembly, the Congress has 154 members. The party has only a small majority and a few defections can tilt the balance.

“His father (YSR) was definitely a towering leader. That does not mean Jaganmohan too is of that stature. As long as YSR was alive, there was no need for the party to look at other options. But his death need not mean that his son should be seen as the successor,” a senior Congressman opposed to his candidature said.