Hyderabad: YSR Congress Party chief Jagan Mohan Reddy visited the temple town of Tirumala to seek blessings before embarking on the massive “Praja Sankalpa Yatra”, with an eye on 2019 assembly elections.
Ahead of the padayatra, though, Jagan Reddy faced a big jolt as his party MLA from Rampachodavaram, Vantala Rajeswari, joined the Telugu Desam Party on Saturday. Till now, 22 YSRCP MLA's have defected to the ruling TDP.
Rajeshwari toed the line of that the other defected MLAs took and said, “I am joining TDP after witnessing the development of Andhra Pradesh under Chandrababu Naidu's leadership."
YSR Congress has already decided to boycott the forthcoming winter session of the Andhra Pradesh Legislature, starting November 10th, over the ‘illegal’ defections. They have demanded that all rebel MLAs be disqualified.
"We can't sit in the Assembly when a mockery is being made of democracy. Four who switched sides have even been made cabinet ministers. So we have decided to boycott the Assembly session and not attend till action is taken,” said YSRCP MLA Srikanth Reddy.
From November 6, Jagan Reddy is set to kick-start his six months long campaign from the Idupulapaya village in YSR district. Back in 2003, Jagan’s father YS Rajashekhara Reddy's padayatra catapulted him to the Chief Minister’s post.
Jagan will cover 3000 km in 125 constituencies over a period of six months. Jagan Reddy will participate in 5000 roadside meetings and 125 public gatherings.
The aim of the padayatra is to reach out to every household and highlight the ‘failures, lies’ of the present Chandrababu Naidu-led government. Reddy also said he was looking forward to exposing the TDP government for its failure to get ‘Special Status’ for the state.
With strong rumours of more imminent defections in coming days, it will be a challenge for Jagan Reddy to keep the party together and win people’s hearts.
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