Hyderabad: Late Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy's brother YS Vivekananda Reddy Tuesday said he would stay with the Congress and declared that he was even ready to contest polls against his nephew YS Jaganmohan Reddy.
After a brief meeting with Jagan, as Rajasekhara Reddy's son is popularly known, Vivekananda told reporters that he would follow in the footsteps of his elder brother by remaining with the Congress till his last breath.
He denied Jagan's allegation that the Congress was trying to divide the family and strongly defended Congress president Sonia Gandhi, whom Jagan sharply criticised in his open resignation letter Monday.
The meeting between Jagan and Vivekananda Reddy at a family estate in Kadapa district Tuesday lasted only two minutes, indicating serious differences in the family. The younger brother of the late YSR reportedly left the place in a huff.
Vivekanada, a member of the legislative council, said he went to New Delhi on his own to meet Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy and Congress leader M. Veerappa Moily.
"The high command neither invited me nor did it lure me with a ministerial post. If aspiring for a cabinet berth is a mistake, I apologise for it," said Vivekananda, a former MP from Kadapa.
Vivekanada had been camping in Delhi for a few days to lobby for a cabinet berth. He had stated that he would try to mediate between the party leadership and Jagan.
YSR's son Monday resigned from the party, alleging that the leadership was trying to create fissures in the family by luring his uncle with a cabinet berth in the new Andhra government. His mother also quit the party and her assembly seat.
Vivekananda said he had to come out before the media as Jagan had made allegations against the party leadership. He pointed out that the party leadership always encouraged YSR and made him president of the state party unit at a young age and later the chief minister.
He said his elder brother was the high command for him. "I never had access to the high command," said Vivekananda.
Describing Sonia Gandhi as a great leader, Vivekananda said she had qualities of great personalities like Mother Teresa and Jesus Christ.
"She loves the Congress workers as her sons and daughters. She is a great woman and has rightly got international recognition," he said.
"I am ready to do whatever the high command asks me to do," Vivekananda said when asked if he would contest against Jagan in a by-election from Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency or Pulivendula assembly constituency.
Jagan, who is likely to float a new party, is also reportedly planning to contest either for assembly or Parliament. His mother was elected unopposed from Pulivendula in December last year, three months after YSR's death.
YSR died in a helicopter crash in September last year, a few months after he became chief minister for the second term.