In an effort to claim the legacy of the late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, the Congress on Friday released a book titled ‘My Diary: Padayatra’ and publicly hoped that his legacy would help it in future.
A galaxy of Congress leaders including Motilal Vora, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Vayalar Ravi, Janardhan Dwivedi, R K Dhawan and Rajiv Shukla attended the book release function in the national capital only to shower praises on Rajasekhar Reddy as a loyal and disciplined party leader.
Union minister Vayalar Ravi said “YSR’s legacy is with the Congress and nobody can claim right to it and that the legacy will help the Congress in future.
” Ravi, who accompanied YSR during the padayatra in 2003, said that the Rajasekhar Reddya legacy rests only with the Congress as it was the party’s platform, which catapulted him as a mass leader and then the chief minister.
Maintaining that YSR was always loyal to the Gandhi family, Congress leaders said that he was a disciplined soldier of the party. Union minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said “Unlike his family members, YSR was a hardcore Gandhi family loyalist who never crossed the laxman rekha.
” Azad said, “YSR was a dynamic leader. He used to fight within the party. In a democratic party, it is usual that clashes happen between leaders. But whenever there was a crunch, he (YSR) always accepted the leadership’s decision. His greatest quality was he was a disciplined leader.”