Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 8: In an apparent bid to avoid family feud and conflicting interests between brother and sister in the first family in Andhra Pradesh, YS Vijayalakshmi has resigned as the honorary president of the ruling YSR Congress Party of which she was the co-founder, in favour of her son the chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.
The announcement was made by her on the first day of the plenary session of the party being held in Guntur with the party poised to anoint Jagan Mohan as the “lifetime president” of the party to honour his contribution for making the party very popular and strong among the people virtually decimating the rival Telegu Desam Party (TDP).
In a dramatic turn of events, Vijayalakshmi, popularly referred to as Vijayamma, announced that she was quitting her post to “stand with” the political campaign led by her daughter YS Sharmila in neighbouring Telangana, whose party shares frosty ties with her brother’s outfit.
The announcement came at the end of her speech on Thursday at the YSRCP plenary being held after five years at Guntur in the presence of her son, party president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. She said at one time she considered to remain attached with both her son and daughter’s parties but thought it better considering the conflicting interest the two parties might have on certain issues like sharing of water between the two states. She denied that there was any family feud or that the mother-son were not on talking terms as rumoured by some people.
“There was so much speculation, rumour-mongering and unnecessary controversy about me standing with my daughter YS Sharmila who is fighting a solitary battle in Telangana to do her bit to realise YS Rajasekhar Reddy’s dreams for the people of Telangana. So, I have decided to quit the YSRCP to put an end to the unnecessary controversy about differences within the family or talk about conflict of interest,” she said.
She said that she understood that in matters of bifurcation, including water-sharing disputes, the two parties would have different stands with the welfare of people in the respective states in mind. So, it would not be correct for her to continue with both parties.
“I am confident YS Jagan will be re-elected as Chief Minister here again. I was with my son during his difficult times. Now they are good times. I feel guilty if I don’t stand with my daughter. So, hearing the voice of my conscience, I am quitting my honorary president post. I will continue to be with my son as his mother and with the people of Andhra Pradesh,” Vijayamma said.
The two parties have maintained their distance from the start. Even before YS Sharmila launched her YSR Telangana party, after announcing her intent to start a political party in Telangana, the YSRCP had issued a statement clarifying that the party or YS Jagan Reddy had nothing to do with it.
Since Jagan’s landslide win in May 2019 with 150 seats out of 175 in Andhra, powered almost entirely by him, and not in small measure by his gruelling yatra across the state, the 49-year-old has strengthened his hold on not just the YSRCP but also the state. The YSRCP now controls all the urban and rural local bodies in Andhra. So complete is the grip that it might now be causing friction within the family.
It’s 11 years since Jagan parted ways with the Congress with his supporters, after a long wait for the party to acknowledge his right to the legacy of father Y S Rajasekhara Reddy or YSR – the tallest Andhra leader of the Congress and the sitting CM at the time of his death. In this decade and more, the YSRCP has seen no second-rung leadership come up, with all party decisions taken by Jagan himself. When he carried out a mid-term reshuffle of his ministry, there was not even a whimper of protest.
As CM Jagan has been adding to his popularity with welfare schemes, aimed at all sections of society. The plenary is expected to pass resolutions approving these schemes, and hail Jagan for his “reforms in the education and health sector.” The show of strength incidentally coincides with YSR’s birth anniversary.
Also an MP at the time of YSR’s death, Vijayalakshmi became the YSRCP chairperson on March 12, 2012, and had played an important role in drafting the party’s policies and strategy. After Jagan’s arrest by the CBI in May 2012, she had taken over the party’s reins and along with Sharmila toured undivided Andhra Pradesh, mobilising support for him.
She was also behind Jagan’s Praja Sankalpa Yatra padayatra of 3,648 km which helped him storm to power.
Sharmila, who launched the YSR Telangana Party on July 8 last year, has also been on a tour of the state to build her party in the state once part of unified Andhra. Sources said a majority of her supporters are former members of the Congress or the YSRCP, from before when the state was bifurcated. The YSRCP Telangana is eyeing former TDP supporters as well as Muslims disillusioned with the AIMIM.
Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh in 2014 after a years-long campaign by the people of the region, and things between the two states have always been smooth.