The in-house bickering in the YSR Congress (YSRC) is turning into a big headache to party chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, forcing him to spend more time on party issues rather than focus on campaigning. The Kadapa MP is busy sorting out the issues among his party leaders during the day. As a result, he has little time for campaigning on his ongoing tour of Coastal Andhra.
With Congress losing its steam in Coastal Andhra after the state bifurcation, a large number of leaders are making a beeline to either Telugu Desam or YSRC offices. Both the parties have opened the doors but after a while the YSRC had stopped admitting other party leaders into it due to overcrowding in most of the constituencies.
Several YSRC leaders and their cadre, who have been working for the party since its inception in 2011, have been preparing the ground to contest the elections. But the sudden exodus of Congress and Telugu Desam leaders into it is creating a rift between the existing partymen and the new leaders.
“Complicating things, Jagan had promised party tickets to many leaders who joined the party when it was launched and those leaders who worked hard in strengthening the party among the masses. The new entrants into the party, who held prominent posts in Congress till now, are aspiring to contest the elections again. This has become a challenge to our party president,” revealed a senior leader of the party.
To sort out the issues between the existing and the newly-joined leaders, Jagan, along with his confidants, is going into multiple huddles with these leaders during his ongoing ‘Atma Gourava Yatra’ (self-respect tour) of Coastal Andhra.
During his tour of West Godavari district last week, Jagan had to hold consultations with Mugunuri Prasada Raju and Kottapalli Subbarayudu who were both aspiring for the Narsapuram Assembly constituency. Prasada Raju contested on YSRC ticket during the bypolls but lost to Congress leader Subbarayudu. Following the latter’s entry into the party, a rift has emerged between both the groups. Jagan had to offer Narsapuram MP ticket to Prasada Raju to sort out the issue.
Cherukuwada Sriranga Raju who aspired to contest from Narsapuram MP constituency also had to be convinced by the party chief who reportedly promised to take care of him at a later stage. Thus, the YSRC chief has brought all the leaders together onto the same platform during a public meeting in the district.
However, YSRC senior leaders claim that Jagan being busy in the party affairs does not have any effect on the campaigning as he has been in the public ever since he was released from the prison. “It was a strategic move.
He had been on one tour or the other over the past three years and hence, had a lot of interaction with the public. Now, all we need is to remind the public about our presence unlike other parties who are rushing to the public only since the last couple of months.” said another party leader.