The Congress That Jagan Has Now 'Forgiven' Was Once Behind His Political Success

Hyderabad: The Congress party, which once upon a time gave sleepless nights to YSR Congress chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy, was the same outfit that got him into politics ten years ago.

Ever since Reddy announced that he has "forgiven" the grand old party after their bitter break-up, speculations are rife that YSRCP chief may enter into an alliance with Congress after elections, reviving his relationship with his parent outfit.

The leader has a deep association with party, which was in a sense his guardian. Reddy was once a successful Bangalore-based businessman, who had keen interest in politics. In 2009, the leader's father and former Andhra CM, YS Rajasekhara Reddy, convinced the Congress high command to get him into poll fray. The party gave him a ticket from Kadapa and Reddy was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time after 2009 general elections. However, later things worsened for him later that year with the death of his father.

Y S Rajasekhara Reddy died in a helicopter crash in September 2009, and Congress chose veteran leader K Rosaiah to succeed the late CM. It was the top post that became the bone of contention between the grand old party and Jaganmohan Reddy.

He had lobbied for the chief ministerial post after his father's death, and when the leader did not get it, he distanced himself from Congress. To make matters worse, the party denied permission to launch 'Odarpu Yatra', which Reddy wanted to hold to console the families whose members had died of 'shock' following YSR's death.

Reddy then called it quits and floated YSRCP in 2011. His mother, Y Vijayalakshmi, also resigned as the Pulivendula MLA. The YSRCP founder then contested on the party's symbol from Kadapa in the 2011 bypoll and won with a record 5.45 lakh majority.

He was later arrested and jailed in cases of alleged disproportionate assets. This further widened the wedge between the YSRCP and Congress.

Reddy spent 16 months in jail in quid-pro-quo cases investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). However, after his release from the jail in September 2013, Jagan strengthened the party.

In the 2014 elections, YSRCP bagged 67 seats in 175-member Assembly but the votes it polled were a mere 1.6 per cent less than the TDP-BJP combine. The YSRCP also won eight Lok Sabha seats.

By "forgiving" the Congress, the YSRCP chief apparently wants to keep his options open. His remarks also assume significance as Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, with whom he is locked in bitter power battle, had been working with the Congress since last year to cobble up an anti-BJP front at the national level.

The TDP also had a poll alliance with the Congress in the Telangana Assembly elections held in December 2018 but after it came a cropper, the Congress decided to go alone in the Andhra elections. The national party, however, has considerably weakened with many top leaders crossing over to YSRCP and TDP over last five years.