YSRC cosies up to Congress
In a decision criticised as a quid-pro-quo arrangement with the Congress, the YSR Congress led by Kadapa MP Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday announced its support to both Pranab Mukherjee and Hamid Ansari in the Presidential and Vice Presidential elections. YSRC Nellore MP Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy, along with 17 MLAs, met at the party headquarters today and announced their vote for Mr Mukherjee in tomorrow's elections.
The meeting, presided over by Y.S. Vijayalakshmi, expressed the view that in a democracy, political parties should not shirk from the responsibility of voting for the highest office in the land. Mr Rajamohan Reddy said, “In a coalition era, the President and Vice-President cannot act partisan and would be amicable to all parties in their functioning”. He said political parties should not sit on the fence and claim neutrality.
“Even non-Congress parties like CPM, Shiv Sena, JD (U) and MIM are supporting Mr Mukherjee's candidature and so are we,” he explained. However, the move was seen as a step towards buying goodwill in Delhi. Mr Rajamohan Reddy rebuffed criticism that the decision was taken in the hope of softening the cases filed against Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy, under judicial remand in Chanchalguda prison for the last 50 days, saying, “Court cases are totally different. We cannot club court cases with our voting. I don't think the Congress can influence the courts to give some relief to Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy.”
When asked about Ms Vijayalakshmi's statement that within the next 15 days Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy would be out of jail, the Nellore MP brushed it aside as “just a casual remark, not to be taken seriously”.
Post new comment