Hyderabad, July 07: In a strategic move aimed at keeping a safe distance from the raging Telangana storm, YSR Congress chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is likely to throw the ball back into the Congress court. Having mulled over it for months, he has decided that the best way out is to fix the responsibility for the Telangana mess on the Congress.
“We have just one MP (YS Jagan Mohan Reddy) and a lone MLA (Y S Vijayamma). We are not in a position to influence the decision anyway. It’s for the Congress to take a call. If they want to give Telangana, let the party introduce a bill to that effect in Parliament,” is the most likely stance the YSR Congress is expected to adopt at its two-day plenary beginning July 8.
The Congress has all along been waiting for YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to decide his position on the T issue so that it could play its cards accordingly. On the other hand, Jagan has been expecting the Congress to make its stand clear before formulating his policy. In other words, each is trying to push the other into a corner. But the Congress has been dragging its feet and it is now imperative for Jagan to come out with his stand as the first plenary of his fledgling party cannot skirt the most important political issue playing out in the state. According to sources, two rounds of surveys have been conducted to facilitate a decision by Jagan on the T demand.
The first survey indicated that he is likely to lose three per cent of his votes if he takes a pro-Telangana stand. But, the second survey, said to have been carried out more recently, revealed that he stands to lose heavily in Coastal-Rayalaseema region in case he supports division of the State.
Over the past few days, Jagan was engaged in wide-ranging consultations with senior functionaries on how to frame the party’s policy. Though he personally was said to be of the view that a clear-cut stance should be taken, he finally had to go with the consensus: for now, remain a fence-sitter.
–Agencies