Congress frowns, but Jagan gears up for another yatra

Angry with the son of late chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy for defiance, the central leadership has directed all ministers and party legislators to stay away from the 'yatra'.

According to party sources, the leadership has conveyed to the state unit that the 'yatra' was a personal matter of Jagan and nobody from the party should participate in it. However, a minister close to Jagan said he had not received any such directive from the leadership. "There is no such information from the high command," Minister for Mines B. Srinivas Reddy told reporters here Friday.

He said almost all party legislators in Prakasam district would participate in Jagan's  'yatra' beginning Sep 3. During the yatra, the parliament member from Kadapa will console the family members of those who died of shock following his father's death in a helicopter crash in September last year.

Srinivas Reddy will be the second minister to participate in the yatra. Earlier, Minister for Social Justice P. Subhash Chandrabose and 25 lawmakers shared dais with Jagan July 29 at a rally, which marked the culmination of 20-day long yatra in East Godavari district.

Addressing the meeting, Jagan had told the leadership that he was running out of patience. He was referring to the action being taken against his loyalists. Before embarking on the yarta last month, Jagan had told people in an open letter that Congress president Sonia Gandhi was opposed to it. She had advised him to call the families at one place and console them instead of visiting them.

Immediately after Rajasekhara Reddy's death, his loyalists had made a strong demand to make Jagan the chief minister. With the leadership turning down the demand, majority of them deserted Jagan and backed Chief Minister K. Rosaiah.