YSRCP MP R Krishnaiah’s moonlighting with Telangana Congress utter disgrace to Chief Minister YS Jagan

HYDERABAD: Even as Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and YSR Congress Party supremo YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is grappling with terrible embarrassment from his sister Y S Sharmila and Narsapuram Lok Sabha member Raghu Ramakrishnam Raju, another discomfiture has come in the form of his party’s Rajya Sabha member R Krishnaiah.

R Krishnaiah, a popular Backward Classes (BC) leader from Telangana and crusader of the cause of the BCs, shocked the YSR Congress by rubbing shoulders with Telangana Congress leaders. He launched his operation of aiding and advising TPCC in preparing a ‘BC declaration’ a la the SC Declaration, recently announced by Congress president Mallikarjuna Kharge.

As latest as on Wednesday, Krishnaiah met former TPCC president Ponnala Lakshmaiah and announced a charter of four demands for the benefit of the BCs. The demands included reservation of 50 per cent to the BCs in all elected posts, a separate ministry at the Centre for BCs with a budgetary allocation of Rs 2 lakh crore. According proportionate reservations based on caste-wise census and enhancement of BC reservations to 50 per cent in education and employment.

Krishnaiah himself announced this along with Lakshmaiah in front of the media. While Congress strategist in Telangana Sunil Kanugolu strongly recommended that the party must garner the support of BCs in the State, Congress in-charge Manikrao Thakre had reached out to Krishnaiah for “advice” on the strategy to be adopted to woo the BCs.

Ever since, Krishnaiah began confabulations with Telangana Congress leaders and the latest in the series of his meetings was the one he had with Ponnala Lakshmaiah.

In fact, Krishnaiah was picked and chosen for being elected on behalf of the YSR Congress to Rajya Sabha by Jagan Mohan Reddy, even though the former belonged to Telangana and was a Congress MLA between 2014 and 2019 from L B Nagar Assembly constituency. This decision of Jagan had, in fact, surprised many within his party as well as many others outside of it. However, Jagan stuck to his guns and had Krishnaiah elected to demonstrate the YSRCP’s commitment to the BCs’ cause.

However, Krishnaiah’s politics moved in widdershins and he began moonlighting with the Congress, for, as they say, “old habits die hard”.

It may be recalled that YS Jagan had walked out of the residence of Sonia Gandhi in protest against the ‘humiliation meted out’ to him after the demise of his father YS Rajasekhara Reddy and raised the banner of revolt. Rest of his political graph is all too well known. For sure, Jagan may not act hand-in-glove with the Congress party again. This naturally brought him closer to the BJP and the saffron party also perceives him as a trusted friend. It’s this element of trust that is keeping TDP and N Chandrababu Naidu’s hedonistic attempt to realign with the BJP which is keeping him at an arm’s distance.

On the occasion of Rakshabandhan, Sharmila would have tied a Rakhi to her brother Jagan, if things were normal between both of them. However, for the last three-odd years, the Yeduguri Sandinti siblings are not seeing eye to eye. As if to rub the proverbial salt on the wound, Sharmila, who had strongly supported Jagan until he was elected the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, called on his bete noire Sonia Gandhi in Delhi on Thursday (August 31, 2023) and discussed the possibility of merger of her party into the grand old party.

Speculation was orchestrated that she would be pitted against Jagan by the Congress in Andhra Pradesh, while Sharmila remained non-committal on which way the winds were blowing vis-à-vis her petulant posturing towards her brother.

With his sister becoming the cliched thorn in the flesh, Jagan is already engaged in an undeclared war with those who had driven wedge within his family.

For some strange reasons best known to him, Jagan could not control Raghu Ramakrishnam Raju for almost close to four years. Though the YSR Congress had appealed to Lok Sabha speaker to disqualify him for indulging in anti-party activities, nothing could be done.

He was declared a persona non grata by the YSR Congress and Raju has been hobnobbing with the powers-that-be in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and has become a weapon in the hands of the opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP). He kept on throwing tantrums and pushing Jagan into an embarrassment at the slightest of opportunities and went to the extent of announcing that he would be contesting the next elections on behalf of the TDP.

Joining the bandwagon of the impudent leaders are three MLAs from Nellore district – Anam Ramanarayana Reddy, Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy and Mekapati Chandrasekhara Reddy – all belonging to the same caste as Jagan and this caste is purportedly a solid bastion for the YSR Congress.

Jagan is unable to act on them owing to the tricky provisos in the Anti-Defection Law.

While he had reconciled to the fact of Sharmila, Raghu Ramakrishnam Raju, Anam Ramanarayana Reddy, Mekapati Chandrasekhara Reddy and Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy, the latest disgrace is slapped by the moonlighting of R Krishnaiah with the Congress.