Hyderabad, October 01: The Congress high command remains unfazed despite the continuing demand from a section of partymen that Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy should be made the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and has put in place plans to ensure continuance of K Rosaiah at the helm at any cost.
Authoritative sources told Express that the central leadership expects Jagan Mohan Reddy, son of the late Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, to mellow down with the passage of time and follow the diktat of Delhi. The message is going to be pretty clear: He still has time to move to the top and before that, he has to learn a lot.
Though Jagan’s followers are still appearing to be belligerent, the young MP himself seems to be slowly reconciling to the fact that he is unlikely to occupy his father’s chair in the immediate future.
Evidence of this came when he denounced the way some partymen tore a flexi banner carrying the picture of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and also counselled legislators against issuing threats of resignation if he was not made the Chief Minister.
Reports that he is planning a mass contact programme from the first week of October suggests that Jagan might be preparing for a long slog before taking a shot at the Chief Minister’s chambers in the Secretariat.
The central leadership, on its part, is playing the age-old Congress strategy _ wear out Jagan by making him wait. He has sought an appointment with Sonia but has not been granted one yet. As an alternative, he has now sought time with Congress general secretary Ahmed Patel but is made to wait even for that.
Sources said Delhi’s message to Rosaiah was unambiguous: “You do your job as the Chief Minister and leave the rest (political management) to us.” This is precisely the reason why every single statement or act of any Congressman is being monitored from Delhi.
If Plan A is to bring around Jagan Mohan to function as per the wishes of the Central leadership, the party also appears to have conceived Plan B. This will be implemented in the unlikely scenario of some legislators breaking ranks in support of Jagan Mohan Reddy. The Congress has just enough majority (156) in the 294-member House.
In the event of the government losing its majority, the Congress high command appears confident of securing the support of some Opposition parties in the state. Some spadework seems to have been done through back channels as part of this strategy. The feedback is: a) Opposition parties may not prefer an immediate election; b) they may not be averse to backing a government headed by Rosaiah.
–Agencies–