On May 27, he completed a year behind bars it seems his popularity in Andhra Pradesh has only grown. YSRCP president Yedurinti Sandinti Jagan Mohan Reddy's clout is increasing with Congressmen and others deserting their political homes for his party, much to the dismay of his political foes.
Jagan's rambunctious party is giving sleepless nights to the Congress as well as to the TDP by engineering one defection after another. As many as nine MLAs each from the Congress and the TDP have switched sides to YSRCP so far. The general feeling is that though Jagan is incarcerated, his party will sweep the ensuing polls in the state as well as for Parliament. The recent entry of TDP senior Dadi Veerabhadra Rao into the YSRCP is a case in point. The kin of some top Congress and TDP leaders are already playing an active role in YSRCP, with more waiting in the wings. Kasu Mahesh Reddy and Pinepe Krishna, sons of ministers Kasu Venkata Krishna Reddy and Pinepe Viswaroop respectively, are sweating it out to strengthen the YSRCP. Finance minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy’s brother Jayakumar Reddy is all set to join the YSRC, despite his brother’s virulent attack against Jagan. TDP senior MLA Devineni Umamaheswar Rao’s brother Chandrasekhar too shifted loyalty to Jagan’s party recently.
On the flip side, Jagan’s prolonged imprisonment could have affected the morale of YSRCP cadre. Party leaders in private voice the concern that if their boss continues to languish in prison for more months, the internal squabbles could magnify and affect the party’s electoral fortunes—as Jagan could not look after the party affairs directly, leaders aspiring for tickets for the 2014 polls might indulge in infighting.
It is also true that the ensuing elections to the local bodies will be the litmus test for the YSRCP, in the run-up to the 2014 polls. As public representatives in local bodies play a key role during the electioneering, the YSRCP leadership has started chalking out strategies to win a majority of the village panchayats, MPPs, ZPPs and municipalities. With Jagan in no position to campaign, party leaders feel the onus of leading the party to victory lies on the shoulders of party honorary president Vijayamma. And the YSRCP acting boss is confident of leading her party to an impressive victory in local body elections as she did during the bypolls last year.
Meanwhile, for the people of Pulivendula, Jagan Babu alone is the choice for chief minister.
For them, the tags of ‘scamster’ or ‘fraudster’ do not matter. “If he comes out, he is going to be the chief minister,” they believe. “Not only in Pulivendula or Kadapa district, people in other parts are also waiting for Jagan,” they say.
People of Pulivendula say support for Jagan had grown though he could not meet the people or come to their rescue in times of need.
“When Jagan Mohan Reddy was not in Pulivendula or Kadapa, we used to straightaway go to his house in Bangalore and get our things done. I was in trouble once and he gave me `50,000 without hesitation,” said a roadside hawker.
Though his people feel that their leader will save them from all ills and carry forward the good work that his father started, indications are that the Kadapa MP has to wait for bail till the end of this year. He was arrested on May 27 last year in the Vanpic case and remanded in judicial custody. Since then, he is languishing in Chanchalguda central prison as a special category undertrial prisoner. Jagan will be in judicial custody till end of this year as he could renew his prayer for bail before the trial court only after a period of four months, in September, as per the Supreme Court orders passed recently.