It is undeniable fact that YSR Congress party president and former Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy has been creating ripples in the Andhra Pradesh politics ever since he came out of the Congress party and created his own political outfit. And if everything goes well for him, he has all the capabilities to change the political destiny of the state.
But somewhere something seems to be going wrong with Jagan’s strategies, especially with regard to his future plans. He took even his hardcore loyalists by surprise by giving an interview to national daily Hindustan Times, in which he categorically said he did not mind supporting Congress president Sonia Gandhi and that would be joining the United Progressive Alliance led by Congress at the national level.
Not only that, Jagan went to the extent of saying that he would demand key portfolios to his party MPs in the next elections.
For those who have been observing state politics for the last few decades, it is nothing but natural that Jagan’s statement only reflected his immature political thinking.
Assuming that Jagan’s statement on support to the UPA comes in the wake of his inadvertent comment on alliance with the BJP, it clearly exposed his incoherent stand on key issues. And he exposed his weakness so easily by saying he did not mind supporting Sonia.
First of all, Jagan has exposed his inconsistent mind. One wonders how a person, who has been going all out against Sonia Gandhi, describing her as a betrayer and conspirator, questioning her nationality and encouraging his followers to use choicest abuses against her, can expect to be part of the UPA chaired by Sonia Gandhi herself. How can Jagan expect that Sonia would accept him into the UPA and give him and his party MPs key portfolios?
And most importantly, how can Jagan expect that a large number of Congress MPs supporting him would quit their posts, contest the by-elections again and win the same, so that they would demand berths in the union cabinet? Or is he anticipating that even the UPA government would collapse and there would be mid-term elections to Lok Sabha, so that the YSR Congress party would bag majority of the MP seats in the state and the UPA will come back to power in the state?
Does all this not look too far-fetched?
It appears that Jagan is either imaging himself too big a power to decimate all the political forces in the state or behaving foolishly.
If Jagan thinks that by winning the by-elections in Kadapa he could bring Sonia Gandhi down to her knees, he would be thoroughly mistaken.
He might pull down the Congress government in the state, but it is not so easy for him to grab power in the state in the snap polls. He must not forget that the Congress and the TDP cannot be written off so easily, as they have their own strong vote banks.
Secondly, there is this big issue called Telangana, which cannot be outdone by another force. And thirdly, Jagan himself is facing attacks on his financial roots from all sides; and the since it is still three years to go for the general elections, the Congress government at the Centre has all the capabilities to arm-twist him and make his life miserable. May be, Jagan wants to appease the Congress party with his latest statement.
What Jagan should concentrate now is to focus on the local body elections and consolidate his position further by next general elections, rather than making incoherent statements; first by abusing Sonia Gandhi and later prostrating before her. He has to display more maturity in his statements.
