Still searching for identity
March 18, 2011 1:10:25 AM
Kalyani Shankar
Jaganmohan Reddy is waiting to create political space for himself in Andhra Pradesh with the Congress losing its grip. If President's Rule is imposed, his calculations could go awry
Jaganmohan Reddy is not the first in Andhra Pradesh to float his own outfit. There have been many others who have done it before. While some like NT Rama Rao succeeded in capturing people’s imagination and subsequently power in the State, others failed. There are others like Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief K Chandrasekhara Rao and Praja Rajyam chief Chiranjeevi who have partially succeeded. While Mr Chandrasekhara Rao became a Union Minister as a coalition partner of the UPA alliance, Mr Chiranjeevi’s party has won 16 Assembly seats.
Now that Mr Jaganmohan Reddy has taken a plunge, the question is what is going to be his fate. Without doubt, he is a young man in a hurry. He is so much like his father YS Rajasekhara Reddy who has been a rebel all his life. However,
YS Rajasekhara Reddy did not alienate the Congress central leadership. He only needled other Congress Chief Ministers until he became one. But
Mr Jaganmohan Reddy dared to take on Congress president Sonia Gandhi by staking his claim for the Chief Minister’s office after his father’s tragic death.
Since the Congress has roped in the Mr Chiranjeevi’s PRP to counter Mr Jaganmohan Reddy’s threat, a comparison between the two becomes obvious. If film actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi is a natural crowd puller, Mr Jaganmohan Reddy has been spending money to gather crowds. And it is not sure how long he can sustain it. On his part, Mr Chiranjeevi could not project himself as an alternative force and failed to emerge as a kingmaker. Though Mr Jaganmohan Reddy has the support of several Congress MLAs his strength is still untested.
Further, Mr Chjiranjeevi has not built up his party’s organisation at grassroots level. But Mr Jaganmohan Reddy is trying to build a strong organisation by mobilising workers in districts. Most importantly, there was no political vacuum when Mr Chiranjeevi launched his outfit as the Congress and the Telugu Desam were strong contenders. But Mr Jaganmohan Reddy is making efforts to snatch some political space from the Congress when it has lost the goodwill gained by YS Rajasekhara Reddy and is plaguing by the TRS’s demand for a separate Telangana State.
Definitely, there is a political vacuum in Andhra Pradesh that needs to be filled up. However, there are doubts whether Mr Jaganmohan Reddy’s YSR Congress will succeed in filling up the space. Apart from the name of the party and the tri-colour flag with YSR’s picture in the middle, nothing more is known. Will he be able to attract YSR loyalists in the State to boost his party’s image is the question that is being asked.
Mr Jaganmohan Reddy in his campaigns has been talking of YSR’s nine pet schemes like housing, pavala vaddi, old age pensions, rice at Rs 2 a kg, health insurance, Jalayagnam, free power, education and land distribution. However, he cannot take credit for all these programmes just because his father had implemented them as then Congress Chief Minister.
After all, these are welfare programmes of the Congress. In order to sustain and attract voters, he must come up with some innovative schemes instead of repeating his father’s promises and has to build a good team.
The Assembly election in the State is scheduled in 2014, two-and-a-half years away. The million-dollar question is whether he will be able to build his party before that.
If the Telangana agitation becomes more violent, President’s Rule may be imposed in the State. In such an event, Mr Jaganmohan Reddy’s calculations may go awry.
Although the Congress has mishandled the Telangana crisis, there is still time to rectify the mistakes if there is a President’s Rule. It has to find a charismatic leader to counter to Mr Jaganmohan Reddy when passions cool down. This is where Mr Chiranjeevi, who has joined the Congress recently, can play a role.
There is talk of projecting him as the chief ministerial candidate in the next Assembly election.

It is not as if the Congress in State does not have strong leaders but so far, the two candidates — Mr K Rosaiah and Mr Kiran Reddy — have failed to handle the volatile situation.
Mr Jaganmohan Reddy’s future also depends on the decision of the Congress about creating a separate Telangana State. So far the Congress has promised more and delivered little.
If the Union Government yields to the pressure and goes for a separate Telangana, Mr Jaganmohan Reddy can capitalise it in the Seema-Andhra region and may be successful in getting a fair share of votes.
Moreover, the Congress has been unable to control the two dozen Congress MLAs who showed up at Mr Jaganmohan Reddy’s meetings. It cannot blame Mr Jaganmohan Reddy for his dynastic politics as it will reflect on the Gandhi family.
Mr Jaganmohan Reddy’s soft spot is his vulnerability as a businessman. His wealth increased enormously during the regime of his father. From a small time realtor, he has become an industrialist with interests in power, mining, cement and media. His declared income had grown from Rs 8.19 lakh in 2003 to Rs 77 crore in 2009. The Income tax cases have already been slapped on him.
So he is sitting in a glass house.