Viveka quits, may join Jagan

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Former minister and MP Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy on Wednesday announced his decision to quit the Congress which he served for more than three decades. Though he has not yet announced it, he is likely to join his nephew Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy's party, the YSR Congress. Mr Vivekananda Reddy, brother of Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, said his reason for resigning was the continuous efforts of the Congress leaders to malign the late Chief Minister, who he said, never did any wrong.

He said he was very disturbed at recent developments that led to the targeting of YSR who had brought the Congress to power twice, both at the Centre and in the state. Mr Vivekananda Reddy is the only Congress leader from Pulivendula, and his quitting the Congress party has been on the cards for the last few weeks. He tried for both the MLC and Rajya Sabha tickets but did not succeed.

He is keeping away from the by-election campaign in three segments in his native Kadapa district. Mr Vivekananda Reddy is a three-time MLA from Pulivendula Assembly constituency and was twice elected to the Lok Sabha from the family's stronghold of Kadapa. He was agriculture minister in the Kiran Kumar Reddy Cabinet, having remained in the Congress when his nephew and sister-in-law Y.S. Vijayalakshmi quit the Congress on November 29, 2010. He even contested against Ms Vijayalakshmi in the Pulivendula bypoll held in May 2011, and lost.

Since then he has not been taking active part in the party. He used to address media conferences occasionally where he defended his Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy, who is under investigation for acquiring wealth illegally. Mr Vivekananda Reddy has frequently approached Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy for permissions for his upcoming medical college at Pulivendula. He has also been requesting AICC leaders, including Ms Sonia Gandhi, to consider him for nominated posts, though he declared he will not seek any such posts.