Hyderabad, January 03: The week-long Odarpu Yatra by former Kadapa MP YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will begin in Visakhapatnam district tomorrow amidst fears in the Congress circles that some cadres might defect to the Jagan’s camp.
The yatra, the first in the district since Jagan quit the Congress, has generated a lot of interest and speculation as the YSR’s son would be seen in a no-holds-barred campaign against the Congress. In earlier yatras, he was still a Congressman, though a rebel, and as such couldn’t go the whole hog against the party. Now he is expected to train his guns at Sonia Gandhi and the state government for trying to isolate him.
Jagan’s loyalists have already done some spade work to ensure that he deals a blow to the Congress in the district before he completes his yatra. Only yesterday, 15 corporators had declared their loyalty to Jagan Mohan Reddy. Tribal Welfare Minister Pasupuleti Balajraju’s parleys with the mayor and deputy mayor in a bid to persuade the corporators to retract from the move proved in vain as the corporators stuck to their guns.
Anakapalli MP Sabbam Hari, former minister Konatala Ramakrishna and former TTD chairman Bhumana Karunakar Reddy are supervising the preparations for the Odarpu Yatra.
Though Yelamanchili MLA Kanna Babu and Visakha West MLA Malla Vijaya Prasad are keen to be part of Jagan’s band, Balaraju is using all the tricks in his bag to keep them away from Jagan. A couple of other MLAs also evinced interest in the yatra, but they have not yet made up their mind since there is pressure from the party leadership.
Though some ZPTC members initially showed enthusiasm in the Yatra, the Congress leadership has silenced them by handing out a stern warning.
Meanwhile, Jagan Mohan Reddy loyalists have already charted the course for him – he will be undertaking a journey for 795 km and unveil 103 statues of his father during the exercise.In Hyderabad, there was some buzz at Jagan Mohan Reddy’s residence with some activists joining the camp. They included workers from Nalgonda, Medak, Mahaboobangar and Guntur districts.
Actor Vijayachandar also called on Jagan Mohan Reddy.
–Agencies