New Delhi, January 11: YS Jaganmohan Reddy on Tuesday sent a warning to the Congress and claimed the support of 24 party MLAs from Andhra Pradesh. Jaganmohan, a a former Congress leader and son of late Andhra chief minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy, is on a one-day fast at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi.
Jagan has been joined by 24 MLAs and MLCs from Andhra along with two party MPs, Sabbam Hari and Rajamohan Reddy, in his hunger strike. The presence of Congress MLAs and MPs is a signal to the party leadership that Jagan could be planning to split the Andhra unit.
If 24 Congress MLAs join Jagan then the state government of Kiran Kumar Reddy will be in a minority. The strength of Andhra assembly is 294 with the halfway mark being 148. As of now the Congress has 156 MLAs. Praja Rajyam Party has 18 MLAs and Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) has seven.
The Opposition is led by Telugu Desam Party which has 91 members in the Assembly while Telangana Rashtra Samithi has 11 MLAs. The Bharatiya Janata Party has two, CPI four, CPI(M) one, CPML one and three MLAs are Independents.
However, Congress MP and spokesperson Manish Tewari claimed that there was no threat to Andhra government.
“Jaganmohan is not a part of Congress. The Congress government in Andhra Pradesh is not under any threat,” said Tewari.
Jagan also slammed Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily claiming that the Law Minister has been working in favour of Karnataka as far as sharing of Krishna River water is concerned.
“Andhra has been let down by the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal. The Law Minister is working in favour of Karnataka as far as Krishna water sharing is concerned,” Jagan said while addressing his supporters in New Delhi.
The former Congress MP from Kadapa, who had resigned from the party in November last, arrived in New Delhi on Monday night by a special train along with his supporters.
Jagan had left the Congress in November 29, 2010 after criticising the top leadership including Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi. He has also filed an application with the Election Commission for registering a new political party.
Jagan apparently wanted to become the chief minister after his father YSR’s death in a helicopter crash in 2009. The rift emerged after the Congress declined his wish to succeed his father as the chief minister of the state.
——–Agencies