Post date: May 17, 2011 5:49:31 AM
On a day when AICC incharge of AP affairs Ghulam Nabi Azad flew down to Hyderabad to take stock of the party affairs post Kadapa poll rout, several Congress legislators, in an act of open defiance, hobnobbed with YSR Congress party chief Jaganmohan Reddy at the deeksha camp here on Monday.
Putting the Congress high command in an embarrassing situation, former minister and Jagan loyalist Pilli Subhash Chandrabose said that they were not worried about disqualification or suspension for aligning with Jagan.
"We won the election not because of Sonia Gandhi or some Congress leader. It is because of YSR," he reiterated. Bose, who was in the forefront in supporting Jagan along with Balineni Srinivasa Reddy, had lost his ministerial berth in the cabinet after Kiran Kumar Reddy took over the reins of the state six months ago. Brushing aside Azad's tour, Bose said: "I am not aware of his mission. I am going to my constituency on Tuesday to attend the Rythu Chaitanya Yatra."
With nine more Congress legislators joining Jagan's deeksha on the second day, the strength of the ruling party MLAs supporting him reached 17. In addition, five MLCs and Nellore MP Mekapati Rajamohana Reddy were present. Apart from Bose, Dharmana Krishna Das, Congress legislator from Narasannapet constituency in Srikakulam and Korla Bharathi (Tekkali) attended Jagan's deeksha.
Kakinada legislator Dwarampudi Chandrasekhara Reddy and Udayagiri MLA Mekapati Chandrasekhara Reddy were also present along with MLAs Baburao, Srinivasulu, Akepati Amaranath Reddy and Terlam Balaraju.
On Monday, six Congress MLAs __ Konda Surekha, Balineni Srinivasa Reddy, Pinnelli Ramakrishna Reddy, Mekathoti Sucharitha, Gadikota Srikanth Reddy and Buchepalli Sivaprasada Reddy, TDP MLA Nallapureddy Prasanna Kumar Reddy, five Congress MLCs __ Jupudi Prabhakara Rao, Pulla Padmavathi, Konda Murali,
Meka Seshu Babu and Desai Tippa Reddy -- were present at the camp.
Former ministers M Mareppa and Makineni Pedarathaiah, former MLAs Ravi Venkata Ramana, Janga Krishna Murthy, Marri Rajasekhar, Ambati Rambabu, Rehman and Lakshmi Parvathi, former TTD chairman Karunakar Reddy and Jagan close aide Y V Subbareddy were also present at the deeksha camp.
Meanwhile, Jagan continued his deeksha for the second day on Monday with complete silence. He did not address the gathering despite a demand from the largely attended crowd. Sources said that Jagan would make a public address only after ending the deeksha at around 12 noon on Tuesday.