Former Chief Minister and YSRCP chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s unconditional support for NDA candidate CP Radhakrishnan, in the Vice Presidential election, is a surprise even to his party circles. When Defense Minister and senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh called and asked, Jagan nodded without putting any conditions. He did not insist on giving special status.
Even, he did not ask for a halt to the privatization of Visakha Steel. YSRCP MP Mithun Reddy, who is in Rajahmundry jail as an accused in the liquor scam case, has requested the court to grant him bail to exercise his right to vote in the Vice Presidential election. The court granted him interim bail.
The TDP-Jana Sena-BJP alliance is in power in the state. The YSRCP fought against this alliance in the elections last year. Jagan had said at the time that he would support only the party at the center that would give a written promise to give special status to the state. And now they are supporting Radhakrishnan, who was appointed by the BJP, who had made it clear that special status was not possible.
Jagan’s younger sister and APCC president YS Sharmila recently lashed out at Jagan for declaring his unconditional support for the NDA candidate, alleging it as only to protect him from corruption cases. She demanded that Jagan should explain to the people of the state why he declared support for the NDA candidate in the Vice Presidential election?
Meanwhile, former MP Undavalli Arunkumar deplored that Jagan’s party’s decision in the Vice Presidential election is incomprehensible. “’The YSRCP lost the elections by contesting against the NDA alliance. How can it now vote for a person from the NDA? Moreover, Sudarshan Reddy is a Telugu. Socialist”, he wondered.
He felt that all the Telugu MPs from the alliance can vote because a Telugu candidate is contesting. He made it clear that there is no need for parties here. “It is very wrong for Home Minister Amit Shah to oppose the verdict given by Sudarshan Reddy in 2003 and portray him as a Naxalite today. This will be contempt of court”, he warned.
Arun Kumar lamented that the BJP is trying to take the entire system into its own hands by ignoring the constitution. That is why, he accused that it directly nominated Radhakrishnan from the RSS as the Vice-Presidential candidate. He alleged Dhankhad, a constitutional expert, was forced to resign because he disagreed with Modi.