Future looking bleak for Jagan
Hyderabad: The less-than-optimal performance by the Y S Rajashekhar Reddy Congress (YSR Congress) in both the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections will raise several questions about the political and legal future of Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Jagan Mohan Reddy's party won 67 Assembly constituencies. In the 175-member Assembly, this is not enough for Reddy to form a government. In Lok Sabha seats, too, out of 25, the YSR Congress has won just eight.
Given the number of legal cases, Reddy is mired in, if the Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party (TDP) puts its mind to it, it can create a lot of problems for him and his family.
It is quite clear that one reason for Reddy's poor performance is the last-minute electoral tie-up between the TDP and the Bharatiya Janata Party. This was a major force-multiplier for the TDP, as it had been in the past when Naidu allied with the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led BJP.
In Delhi, the YSR Congress will have little or no role: there is very little room left for power arbitrage by Reddy. What could happen, however, is attempts by the TDP to break away sections of the YSR Congress so that its power is whittled away.
This is a long process and could take time. The party is unlikely to get any help or cooperation from the Congress, with which its estrangement is too deep to be repaired.
All Reddy expected, when he met Congress president Sonia Gandhi after his father died, was that he be made chief minister. Not only did the Congress declined this request but also turned him and the family away.
That is not a snub Reddy will forget easily. In Seemandhra, Chandrababu Naidu is now going to become the Chief Minister. If he digs out more evidence against Reddy and KVP Ramchandra Rao, erstwhile colleague of Reddy's father, it will take a lot of resolution, grit and determination for the party to survive.
News Posted: 18 May, 2014
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