Yeduguri Sandinti Jaganmohan Reddy: The knight in shining armour

Yeduguri Sandinti Jaganmohan Reddy, popularly known as Jagan, has emerged as the knight in shining armour for the five crore people of 13 districts of coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema.

The YSR Congress chief, his mother YS Vijayamma and sister Sharmila are criss-crossing Seemandhra to garner support for the party. The party floated by Jaganmohan Reddy in 2010 after resigning from the Congress is ahead in campaigning but has failed to attract political heavyweights from the Congress, who prefer to join the TDP.

At all their public meetings, YSRCP leaders are holding all their political rivals responsible for bifurcation. Jagan is promising to bring back the 'golden rule' of his father YS Rajasekahara Reddy, who launched many welfare schemes as chief minister from 2004 to 2009.

Jagan, who turned 41 last December, is also the face of seamless freebies including cash-free medicare and cash-free higher education.

He was earlier a victim of the worst political vendetta by Congress government which jailed him for16 months and was hauled up in CBI court for once-a-month appearance to face trial in the ten charge sheets filed against him. With a heartbroken mother and sister in tow, Jagan walked out of Congress in November 2010. His grudge was that the party high command (Sonia Gandhi) had denied him permission to conduct 'Odarpu yatra' (to console families whose members committed suicide after YSR's death).

Jagan, who set electoral record of sorts by sweeping a series of successive by-polls in 2011 and 2012, says his jail term and CBI arraignment have taught him a lot about politics. "My father always advised me to trust people and not leaders and that is what I have been doing since 2011," Jagan had said during the election campaign in 2010.

Jagan has also been fortunate enough to have a strong-willed sister Sharmila (married to an evangelist) who braved all odds for nearly a year to cover 3,000km across the state on foot for his sake and to keep the YSR memory (more so the memory of welfare schemes) alive for over two years. His mother has also been holding political rallies, dharnas, hunger fasts for his sake.

Right now all the three are busy holding road shows and adressing public meetings in Seemandrha area. Jagan's mother and his sister, and his wife Bharati Reddy had kept the political space intact for Jagan when he languished at the Chanchalaguda Jail for 16 months. As a sole champion of Samaikyandhra, Jagan has emerged as the main claimant of the campaigners for United Andhra where both the Congress and the TDP which also voted for Telangana are left high and dry.

"Every one blames me for the U-turn on Telangana. I did whatever was best for people of the state at that moment. Whether my decision is right or wrong, the coming elections will show," says Jagan.

The party — YSR Congress — he founded in 2011 today has 18 MLAs, five MLCs and three MPs. Now more than 12 Congress and 4 TDP MLAs have joined his party ahead of the general elections.

Jagan had won his parliament seat for a second time with a record margin of 5,45,053 votes in 2011 by-poll after giving up Kadapa Lok Sabha seat won as Congress leader to prove his point that he was a people's leader.

Jagan's strength is not only his father's welfare policies, but also the heady mix of old and young team of techies and strategists like Dr Somayajulu, YSR's chartered accountant-turned-agronomist who had shaped up the party's manifestos for rural development.

Jagan's web page has over 5 lakh hits and has almost double the number as followers on Twitter. He also stands to gain from the weaknesses of the TDP and the Congress on the Telangana issue.

Jagan plans to contest the assembly polls from Pulivendula segment of Kadapa district, a seat presently held by his mother, to stake claim for the chief minister's post in the residuary state.

In fact, he had left Congress only after the party high command chose Kiran Kumar Reddy instead of him for the top post, though on the day of his father's death the entire state cabinet and also 125 of the 156 Congress MLAs had signed in favour of his elevation as CM.

"Jagan in jail was more powerful than as a freeman, as his detractors allege that that he sold his soul to Congress to secure his release from jail," a senior Congress leader from Kadapa said.

It is expected that Jagan may support UPA-3 after winning Seemandhra and perhaps could even merge his party with Congress. But Jaga's team says they would not mind supporting even NDA. "No special love for Congress and it will only be politics," they say.

Jagan married Bharati Reddy, his childhood love and has two daughters — Harsha and Varsha. Jagan is an alumnus of Hyderabad Public school. In 2012, he declared assets worth Rs365 crore.