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YSR Congress party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy has set a new record in expanding his business empire from a small power plant to a vast network of industries with ill-gotten investments.

This was the observation made by Telugu Desam Parliamentary Party leader Nama Nageshwara Rao, who was the richest parliamentarian in the country before Jagan took his place recently.

While Jagan claimed that he deserved to be given the best industrialist award for his business acumen, Nageshwara Rao feels the Kadapa MP deserved punishment for earning such a huge wealth through dubious means in such a short time. Nama came down heavily on the MLAs resigning from their seats for the sake of a corrupt politician. “It is the most unfortunate development, at a time when the country was going agog against corruption,” he said.
Source: Greatandhra

In a bid to get their resignations accepted, the pro-Jagan MLAs are planning to undertake a parade before the Assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar and mount pressure on him.

The YSR Congress Party is keen that the by-elections are to these constituencies as early as possible so that its strength and popularity among the people is proved. The party wants the by-polls to the constituencies to be held by end of October, along with Banswada in Nizamabad district vacated by Pocharam Srinivas Reddy who had defected from Telugu Desam Party to Telangana Rashtra Samithi and whose resignation from the Assembly was accepted.

Similarly, Jagan’s loyalists argue that their resignations should also be accepted by the Speaker, paving the way for by-elections.

As many as 26 Congress MLAs, two TDP and one erstwhile PRP MLA had resigned in protest against the inclusion of former Chief Minister late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s name in the CBI’s FIR in the alleged illegal assets case.

Besides, three other pro-Jagan MLAs – Konda Surekha, K Jayasudha and K Satyavathi had earlier resigned demanding statehood for Telangana.

The Speaker has already directed the Assembly Secretary to verify the signatures of the 26 MLAs who had resigned. Manohar is expected to personally examine the individual cases from Monday.

All eyes are riveted on the Speaker as to what decision he would take on the resignation issue.
Source: Greatandhra

Hyderabad: As many as 29 Andhra Pradesh legislators loyal to YSR Congress Party leader Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy Monday submitted their resignations to protest the state government’s alleged attempts to tarnish the image of the late chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.

The legislators reached the state assembly in a procession and submitted their papers to legislature secretary Raja Sadaram as Speaker N. Manohar was away visiting his native Guntur district.

The MLAs who submitted their resignations include 26 of the Congress, two of the opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and one from the Praja Rajyam Party (PRP).

Three legislators, who have already quit over the demand for a separate Telangana state, did not submit fresh resignations. One of them, Konda Surekha, said they would put pressure on the speaker to accept their earlier resignations.

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It looks like YSR Congress party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy is not going to remain content with bringing psychological pressure on the Congress party by getting the resignation of 25-30 MLAs from the assembly seats.

If the sources in the party are to be believed, Jagan is aiming at pulling down the Kiran Kumar Reddy government in the state and show his strength to the Congress party.

So, Jagan feels the time has come to throw the Congress government in the state in Bay of Bengal.

According to these sources, Jagan has sent messages to as many as 75 Congress MLAs in the state, who were hand-picked by his father Y S Rajasekhara Reddy in 2009 elections and have been staunch loyalists of YSR. They were all asked to attend the crucial party meeting on Sunday. Jagan reportedly told them that it was not proper on their part to remain silent at a time when the Congress party has directly targeted the “maha neta” by implicating him in the cheating and criminal conspiracy case. And it was the time for them to choose between YSR legacy and the conspiracy.

However, only 24 MLAs could attend the meeting and another six had called up and pledged their support to Jagan.

In the case of those who did not attend, Jagan’s camp is trying to bring pressure through the party cadres and force them to resign. If at least 60 MLAs resign, the government would collapse automatically, sources said.
Source: Greatandhra

Believe it or not, the survival of the Kiran Kumar Reddy government now depends on the mercy of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi MLAs.

With the pro-Jagan MLAs deciding to resign on Monday, the the Congress government in the state has run into serious trouble.

At present, the Congress has a strength of 173 MLAs in the 294-member state assembly, including 18 Praja Rajyam Party MLAs who are now part of the Congress.

The Congress needs 148 MLAs to survive. Going by the present indications, if at least 30 MLAs resign from the party, the party strength would come down 133; thus it plunges into minority.

Even if seven MIM legislators and three independents support the Congress, its strength would only become 143. There would be more trouble, if more number of MLAs resign from the Congress in support of Jagan.

However, there is no immediate threat to the Kiran Reddy government now. If 32 MLAs resign, the effective strength of the assembly will come down to 261 (there is one vacancy in the 294-member house because of the resignation of TDP member P Srinivasa Reddy). Thus, the Congress would require only 131 members to survive.

The trouble will come only when all the resigned MLAs get elected again on the YSR Congress ticket. In such case, the Congress would definitely have to seek the support of 11 TRS MLAs. So, it will be interesting to see what the TRS would do then.
Source: Greatandhra

With the CBI intensifying their raid, the sympathy for Jagan is increasing statewide.

Already, 27 MLAs and 2 MPs from YSR Congress party have gone ahead and submitted their resignation citing the allegation by government that YSR is a culprit of corruption.

Incidentally, YSR is the man who single handedly brought Congress to power twice in state and once in the centre. 
There is also news that few more are in the line to tender their resignation. Coming to the CBI raids, if they are adhering to the Congress High Command, the chances are that Jagan’s accounts would be frozen and his companies would be stopped from functioning. The other side is, if CBI proceeds as per its wishes without congress interference then Jagan will go to jail. But the second version is 99% speculation. 
If Jagan goes to jail the sympathy for him among the people of the state will increase many times. Just like Mohan Babu did in ‘Assembly Rowdy’, the chances are that Jagan will turn the wheel if he goes inside.

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Contrary to the calculations of political pundits, most of the Kamma-dominant villages in Mailavaram constituency in Krishna district virtually waited for several hours for a glimpse of YSR Congress chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy on Sunday.

The people, particularly from Chowdary community, rallied around Jagan and virtually did not allow him to go out of their villages till he visited their colonies.

Even Jagan camp was surprised by the massive turnout from villages considered to be the stronghold of TDP district chief Devineni Umamaheswara Rao.

Turnout at Kavulur, Chevutur and Paiduripadu villages was a surprise as people from the Kamma community ran out into the streets and stopped his convoy.

“The crowd turnout at Kavulur, Chevutur and Paiduripadu villages had left us speechless,” admitted a YSR Congress leader.
Source: Greatandhra

Though Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy is trying to put up a brave front over the resignations of nearly 30 MLAs owing allegiance to YSR Congress party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, he is definitely a worried man.

The Chief Minister had closeted with Pradesh Congress Committee president Botsa Satyanarayana on Sunday night to discuss how to control the damage being done to the party.

One of the options that were discussed at the meeting was to expand the cabinet and woo the probable MLAs joining the Jagan camp with cabinet berths.

So, Kiran would dangle the carrot at the pro-Jagan MLAs promising them with cabinet berths and their supporters with various nominated posts.

Since the Praja Rajyam Party MLAs, too, will officially be joining the Congress on Monday, the cabinet will any way has to be expanded offering berths to a couple of them. Simultaneously, the pro-Jagan MLAs also would be offered the berths.

But the question is whether there would be any takers for this bait from Kiran. The mood in the Jagan camp is aggressive and now, the MLAs cannot go back on their announcement on resignations.
Source: Greatandhra

The congress government seems to be dabbling with a two edged sword. On one hand, there is Anna Hazare who has begun a momentum in the entire nation much to the discomfort of the Congress Netas.

On the other hand, the government has shown its muscle power by getting into the deep quarters of Y S Jaganmohan Reddy in the name of corruption and CBI enquiry.

At the end of the day, how much is all this going to benefit the current government and how this is going to affect the future of Jagan, a crucial force for the future of Andhra Pradesh. 
Raghunath, a clerk in a bank said, "Jagan has strong support in the Andhra region so this attack of congress on his properties will result in nothing but extra sympathy for him. On the other hand, the main objective of Anna Hazare’s fight is against corruption and he has been getting an overwhelming response from the citizens of India. Given the large number of allegations that Jagan is currently facing, it sure makes him look like a top ranker in the list of corrupted politicians. But still it is not going to affect his vote bank as voters hardly hate corrupted politicians".

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The Central Bureau of Investigation, which is probing the alleged illegal assets case of YSR Congress party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, has charged him with cheating and resorting to criminal conspiracy.

The CBI, which declared Jagan as accused no. 1 in the case of illegal assets and alleged flow of illegal investments into his business empire, registered cases against him and 50 others under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating), 409 (criminal breach of trust) and 477A (falsification of accounts) of the Indian Penal Code, besides Section 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

“The cases were filed following the allegations that the investors had invested in the companies owned and promoted by the MP at very high premiums in a quid pro quo for the favours doled out by the then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh,” a statement from the CBI said.

A CBI spokesperson Dharani Mishra said if necessary, the CBI would take Jagan into custody for interrogation. Indications are that it might happen anytime in the next few days.
Source: Greatandhra