Undeterred by intensified attacks from its main rivals, Congress and Telugu Desam, and the despondency that has crept into its ranks over the prolonged legal battle by their chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy to come out of jail on bail, the YSR Congress Party has decided to go to people with renewed vigour to lay bare the secret understanding between TDP and Congress.
It may appeal to the YSR family members to undertake padayatras to strengthen the party at the grass roots and to give a fitting reply to the rival parties but has not taken final decision on it. Sources said party honorary president YS Vijayalakshmi agreed to undertake a padayatra similar to the Praja Prasthanam undertaken by her husband YS Rajasekhara Reddy in 2003.
A joint meeting of the party’s Central Governing Body and the Executive Governing Body, to be held on Monday, will chalk out the future course of action.
Earlier in the day Jagan was met at Chanchalguda jail by his mother Vijayalakshmi, wife Bharathi and several party leaders. He asked party leaders to take up serious political activity to explain to people the nexus between Congress and TDP.
A meeting of party leaders present in the city met informally at the party office here on Saturday. It was attended by Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy (MP), MV Mysura Reddy, YV Subba Reddy, Ramakrishna Reddy, Pilli Subhash Chandra Bose, MLAs Balineni Srinivas Reddy, D Chandrasekhar Reddy and Babu Rao and some others.
They all came to the conclusion that Congress and TDP did not want Jagan to get bail and were using very means to scuttle his efforts. Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy wants to complete his Indiramma Baata and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu wants to complete his padayatra while Jagan is in jail as they fear that if Jagan is out on bail they can not do what they want to. Realising that the present juncture is crucial, YSRC leaders warn that if the party fails to take up political activity in right earnest now, it will do incalculable damage to the party in the long run.
Among the several proposals made on party programmes are padayatras by YSR family members, holding of district-level public meetings and launch of agitations on public issues.