Beleaguered YSR Congress chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has said that more and more Congress and Telugu Desam leaders are approaching him to join his party and to express solidarity with him. His claim was corroborated when on Saturday morning, Bobbili MLA Ravu Venkata Sujay Krishna Ranga Rao, a known opponent of PCC president Botsa Satyanarayana in his native Vizianagaram district, paid a visit to Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy’s Lotus Pond residence and met his mother Y.S. Vijayalakshmi to express his solidarity with the Kadapa MP. Later in the evening, Mr Ranga Rao met Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy at his residence after the latter returned from an eight-hour grilling by the CBI.

‘Choosy’ Jagan gets feelers
Talking to a news channel on Saturday, YSR Congress president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy said that he was getting feelers from several leaders from both the Congress and the TD. “There are a lot of good leaders within the Cong-ress as well as the Telugu Desam. In fact I am very picky and am taking them only on merit; they are all coming forward against this injustice being done to me,” he said.

Bobbili MLA Ravu Venkata Sujay Krishna Ranga Rao, a two-time MLA loyal to Union minister K.C. Deo told newsmen that he would meet the people of his constituency soon to take a decision on formally joining the YSR Congress. He said that the people in the state believed that Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy was not guilty in the disproportionate assets case and that the CBI filing cases against him was being seen as clear case of harassment. “I was elected as MLA with the blessings of YSR and I wanted to be loyal to his family,” Mr Ranga Rao said. To a question, he said non-representation of the Velama community in the Cabinet was also a cause of worry for the people of the community.

The state Congress leadership, meanwhile, is trying its best to keep the flock together. When Mr Ranga Rao reached the capital from Vizag on Saturday morning, he was surprised to see a team of leaders deputed by Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy to receive him at the airport and dissuade him from leaving the party. Minister Kondru Murali and the CM’s brother N. Santosh Kumar Reddy were present and at one stage Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy too spoke to him over the phone. Mr Ranga Rao, however, told the deputation that he had already made up his mind and left from the airport for Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy’s residence.

Mr Ranga Rao is the second Congress MLA openly coming out in defence of Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy after Eluru MLA Alla Nani. Meanwhile, PCC disciplinary committee chairman K. Satyanarayana Raju met the CM and the PCC chief. He said that the committee would meet on May 28 to discuss the anti-party activities of some leaders. He added that a show-cause notice had been served on Mr Nani for openly mixing with Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy.

He, however, added that the Congress was not disturbed with the latest developments as one or two MLAs leaving the party would not make a difference. According to YSR Congress sources, two more MLAs — Savarapu Jayamani and Janardhan Thatraj — were also planning to meet Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy on Sunday to express their solidarity. Interestingly, the three MLAs, including Mr Ranga Rao, are from Vizianagaram district from where no MLA has turned to the Kadapa MP in the last two years.

In this crucial bypoll time, the state Congress leadership has to spend valuable time in contacting “suspect” MLAs and convincing them not to desert the party. “It has really diverted our attention at a crucial time ahead of the bypolls. We had to suspend our bypoll operations and concentrate on the MLAs to keep our flock together,” a senior Congress leader said.