Kadapa: Former Congress MP Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy today announced that he would launch a new political party in Andhra Pradesh in 45 days that would safeguard the 'Telugu pride' and 'self-esteem'.
Days after quitting Congress and Lok Sabha, Jagan, the son of late Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, claimed that the Congress would be 'wiped out' in the state in the next three years.
"Our new party will be launched in the next 45 days and it will protect the Telugu pride. Our party flag will fly high on every household across the state," he told his supporters in his hometown Pulivendula near here.
37-year-old Jagan said the entire country was looking forward to the by-elections in Kadapa (Lok Sabha constituency) and Pulivendula (Assembly constituency). The seats were vacated by him and his mother last week. Jagan had resigned from the Congress and Lok Sabha on Monday last alleging that the party leadership, including Sonia Gandhi, had 'insulted and humiliated' his family.
"The by-elections will be a semi-final for us and the 2014 general elections will be the final. If we endure whatever hardships for three more years, we shall get back the golden era of YSR in the subsequent 30 years," Jagan claimed.
"Have no doubt, the Congress will be wiped out in the next three years," he said. However, Jagan said he would not destabilise the Kiran Kumar Reddy government in the state.
"If the Congress is in power both in the state and at the Centre now, it is only because of my late father. But the Congress party split such a great leader’s family by playing most bizarre politics," he said.
Jagan said he tried desperately to patch up with his uncle Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy but to no avail.
"I pleaded with him to lead me from the front but the Congress offered a ministerial post as a prey to my uncle only to split our family," he alleged.