‘No need to lose sleep over Jagan'

                                                                   

Chosen by AICC president Ms. Sonia Gandhi for the difficult task of rejuvenating the badly divided party ahead of crucial byelections, Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affair, Vayalar Ravi felt there was no need for Congressmen to be obsessed with Kadapa MP, Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy and his party, YSR Congress.

. “I have asked the Congressmen to be more active and not to talk too much about the new party. He is not a big guy. Yet, I am not under-estimating him as he is using father's name,” he told The Hindu in an interview.

Mr. Ravi indicated that he was not averse to invoke YSR's legacy but not when the late Chief Minister's son was embroiled in a slew of court cases.

He attributed the root cause of Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy floating his own party to the latter's hurry to become Chief Minister when Mr. K. Rosaiah was Chief Minister and rejecting advice to be patient.

Jagan betrayed party

He saw no merit in Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy's claim that Ms Sonia Gandhi humiliated him and his mother when they met her at 10 Janpath. “Many leaders meet her with so many demands, including the Chief Minister's post. Everyone cannot become Chief Minister. Jaganmohan Reddy's is a betrayal the party. We will tell people why he left the Congress party and forced by-elections when the general elections are not far away. It is all due to his arrogance,” he said.

Asked whether there was a possibility of Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy's return to the Congress in the foreseeable future, he said, “there is no way. He has to decided and come, that too after some time.”

A man for all seasons, Mr. Ravi had closely watched A.P. politics for over five decades from the time Neelam Sanjiva Reddy was Chief Minister till the famous padayatra undertaken by Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy in 2003.

“I am here on a special mission, although Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad will continue to be the AICC general secretary in charge of AP affairs, though he is busy right now with Kashmir and other affairs. I do not treat this is another bye-election. This is the first step for the 2014 elections. AP holds great importance to the Congress as the UPA came to power because so many of our party MPs were elected from here,” he said.

Not a referendum

Mr. Ravi refused to treat the by-elections as a referendum on the Congress government since the general elections were two-and-a-half years away.

Asked to respond to criticism against Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy's style of functioning, he said he was yet make an analysis.

On change of guard

To another question whether there would be a change of guard after the by-elections, Mr. Ravi said: Ms. Gandhi has not discussed the issue of change with anyone. This question will not arise until the Congress takes a decision on Telangana.

Telangana issue

“There are two versions on Telangana with some MPs supporting a separate State and others opposing it. I agree that there is a strong sentiment for Telangana. If we give Telangana, we will win most of the Lok Sabha seats and form the government in the region without facing too many problems from TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao.”

Defections

Mr. Ravi said he did not fear that there would be defections to the YSR Congress Party if the ruling party suffers in the by-elections. “But, you never know in Andhra Pradesh where defections have become the order of the day. I am confident that the stability of the government will not be affected
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