JOIN USJagan bids goodbye to Cong
Ending his tumultuous association with the Congress, Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, son of former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, on Monday quit the party and resigned as Lok Sabha MP, indicating he was prepared to launch a new regional outfit.
Jagan’s mother Y S Vijayalakshmi also quit the Congress after resigning the Pulivendula Assembly seat from where she was elected unopposed in December last year after her husband’s death in a helicopter crash.
In a five-page letter faxed to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Jagan informed her of his decision and expressed anguish over party leaders’ attempts to isolate him. Alleging that he and his family were insulted by the party on several occasions since the death of his father, Jagan said he had no other option than quitting. Jagan was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Kadapa constituency.
“I was shocked at the murky and disgusting politics being played at my back. Is it fair to lure my uncle YS Vivekananda Reddy to Delhi, thereby paving way for fissures in my family? I was deeply hurt over reports in media that my uncle went to Delhi at the instance of Ghulam Nabi Azad”, Jagan wrote. “Why did you create division in the family? What crime had we committed?”, he said in the letter.
Former minister Konda Surekha told reporters that Jagan has asked his supporters not to quit the party now as the people had given them a mandate to serve till 2014. She said Jagan would leave for Idupulapaya in Kadapa district to seek the blessings at his father’s memorial and then would continue his “Odarpu Yatra” from December 16. Meanwhile, Jagan indicated to a TV channel that he might launch a new party whose name he was yet to finalise.