She is the mother who fights to oust the Congress in Andhra Pradesh on behalf of her incarcerated son. She is also seen as the custodian as her late husband, the venerated former Andhra chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, whose memory, her family feels is being esecrated by the Congress party for political gain. With her husband dead and her son, Jagan Mohan Reddy in jail, YS Vijayamma is leading the war against her husband’s former party with the help of a few trusted colleagues.
Vijayamma may not have had thought she would one day have to lead the party. With no indication of when Jagan would be out from jail (his recent bail petition too was dismissed by the AP High Court) it is now Vijayamma who has to fight a proxy war with the Congress on behalf of her son and deal with the issues of the party on a day to day basis.
And she is doing it without much difficulty. She recently visited Visakhapatnam and commiserated with the fishermen who were injured in a police lathi charge while they were fighting the NTPC Simhadri Thermal Power Station management for polluting the sea waters, depriving them of their livelihood. She later visited Lakshmipet in Srikakulam district and spent time with the survivors of five dalits who were done to death by backward classes over dispute on rights of cultivation of land left over after submergence of backwaters of Madduvalasa reservoir.
Her core team comprises a couple of MPs and relatives. Former TDP Rajya Sabha member MV Mysoora Reddy who joined the YSR Congress just about the time Jagan was arrested in May, is lending her the support that she requires when she is calling on dignitaries like the Prime Minister. Then there is Machiavellian MP Sabbam Hari from Anakapalli whose razor sharp political brain always suggests the next step Vijayamma should take to derive political advantage in any situation. Though he is still in Congress he has no qualms to be seen in the company of Vijayamma.
Then there is Nellore MP Mekapati Rajamohana Reddy and party elder and YS Rajasekhara Redy’s close relative YV Subaa Reddy all helping her. Bhooma Nagi Reddy and MLA wife Shobha Nagi Reddy, who are also related to her, are always around extending support to her. “She is a highly respected woman. That is why people listen to her,” Sabbam Hari says.
Though she is not given to making fiery speeches at public meetings, she has gained enough skills to communicate her point clearly. In December last year when TDP moved no confidence motion in the Assembly against the state government, she poke for the first time and her speech attracted the attention of everyone. She made her point clear, how YSR was being now treated as enemy by the Congress though he was responsible for bringing it to power twice in the state.
Her oratorical skills came to a test after the arrest of Jagan Mohan Reddy in May. The Kadapa MP was in the thick of campaign for byelections when the CBI arrested him. As the writing on the wall was clear that he would be arrested anytime, he had told her to be prepared for campaigning in the districts and when the inevitable had happened, Vijayamma led the campaign and she had such an impact on the people that even Jagan did not have on some occasions.
“Look at the crowds. She has a sway on them,” a government official, watching her byelection campaign on television, had said.
Vijayamma managed to kick up a sympathy wave for Jagan Mohan Reddy with women flocking to her whistle stop meetings, which began from Srikakulam district and covered all the 18 Assembly constituencies in the state. Like her husband, she too appeared to have some kind of a charm for the audience since they listened to her in rapt silence when she narrated how the Congress was using the CBI to harass her and who the Congerss was denigrating late YSR, to settle scores with Jagan.
Though she often takes the advice of her son in the jail, she is now growing into a leader as she is respected as late YSR’s wife. The Congress leaders who call Jagan Mohan Reddy names are afraid of saying a word against Vijayamma except out of compulsion. This is because all of them respected her when YSR was alive and now they have to be on the other side in fighting the war. As Vijayamma has proved that she can kick up sympathy wave, the Congress is afraid of her. “She is like a mother-figure for us. She is being made to run around canvassing for votes,” one Congress leader had said betraying the respect and fear he has for her.