VIJAYAWADA: YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has rejected the proposal to be appointed as the permanent president of the YSRCP, party general secretary Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy said on Thursday.The statement comes a day after the Election Commission of India (ECI) had directed the YSRCP “to complete an internal enquiry and make a clear and categorical public announcement contradicting media reports alleging that YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has been appointed as the permanent party president.”
Sajjala said, “A resolution was passed (to make Jagan the permanent president) but he rejected it. Jagan wanted the democratic process (of elections to the post) to continue as is and asked us why we made such a proposal.”He clarified that the word ‘enquiry’ might have been added in the response to the ECI as YSRC members wanted to discuss the issue before replying to the poll panel.
“Now that the proposal did not materialise, the party president will have a tenure of five years as per the amendment made to the party’s Constitution in February,” Sajjala said and added “The issue died a natural death and is now irrelevant.”
Asked about the resolution passed during the party plenary to appoint Jagan as the permanent party president and YSRC leader V Vijayasai Reddy announcing the same, Sajjala said though it was adopted, Jagan was against it. “We wished to not conduct elections to choose the one who founded the party,” he expressed. He said they had mulled over the proposal after speaking to legal experts who said such a system is in vogue in Tamil Nadu.