YSR would have been in jail today

Congress senior leader and former Rajya Sabha member V Hanumantha Rao on Thursday said that former chief minister late YS Rajasekhara Reddy would have surely been in jail if he were alive for looting thousands of acres of government land.

Describing both YSR and his son Jagan as thieves, VH alleged that statues of the deceased leader were put up all over the state by the young leader with the illegal money amassed during his father's tenure as CM.

"What Chiranjeevi had said about them is right. Both YSR and Jagan should be treated as the branches of the same tree. YSR is a thief and the same applies to Jagan," he said. VH pointed out that Congress failed to counter the allegations made by Jagan against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

VH complains to Sonia about use of YSR name

Congress senior leader and Rajya Sabha member V Hanumanta Rao has met the party president Sonia Gandhi here on Friday morning.

He is reported to have complained to her about party leaders still continuing to use the name of the late Chief Minister Dr. Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and advised her that it would be highly detrimental to the party’s interests.

It may be recalled that VH has been opposing Dr. Reddy even when he was alive and became a vehement opponent of his son Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy after he left Congress and launched his own party.

Recently when the newly inducted medical education minister Kondru Murali Mohan has branded YSR as anti-Dalit openly, Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy has reprimanded him and asked his colleagues not to speak ill of the late leader.

Congress senior leader and minister Danam Nagender has also said that it was only those who attained leadership through a wind fall, were talking ill of YSR (He possibly aimed this remark against V Hanumantha Rao who was elected to the Assembly only once in his long political career. He has been getting nominated to Rajya Sabha term after term).

Another minister N Raghu Veera Reddy has also said that Congress would never disown Dr. Reddy as he was a Congress man all through his life and died as Congress Chief Minister. Even former minister Sankar Rao, a strong critic of YSR and his son, has trashed allegations that the late leader was anti-Dalit.

A state of utter confusion is prevailing in Congress party whether or not to own YSR. If they continue to call him their revered leader, they would have to explain how his son Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has amassed wealth without his knowledge and involvement. As Jagan has turned to be a major force in the Coastal Andhra region and a main rival, Congress would have to defame him, if it were to win the voters back to its fold. However, there is no way it could do it without blaming YSR.

The newly elected Rajya Sabha member Palvai Govardhan has also said that YSR and his son could not be viewed as separate entities and the strategy of praising the father and damning the son won’t work out.