Nearly three years after his death in a helicopter crash, former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy remains a key factor in Andhra Pradesh politics.
The conspiracy theories surrounding the charismatic Congress leader’s death have come back to haunt the state, ahead of the crucial by-elections to 18 Assembly seats and one Lok Sabha seat.
The YSR Congress (YSRC) floated by his son Y S Jaganmohan Reddy raked up the emotional issue in a clear attempt to garner public sympathy. On its part, the ruling Congress hit back at Jagan, now jailed in the disproportionate assets case, accusing him of trying to politicise the tragedy to garner votes for his party in the June 12 by-polls.
The chopper crash that killed YSR and four others on September 2, 2009, has become a campaign issue in the by-elections seen in political circles as ‘semi-finals’ before the 2014 Assembly polls.
YSR’s widow Y S Vijayamma, who took over the party’s campaign following her son’s arrest, raised suspicion over the chopper accident and called for a thorough probe to ferret out the truth. Her emotional campaign invoking the sabotage theory and her strident attack on the Congress government set the tone for a bitter slanging match. As Jagan languishes in jail following a High Court-directed Central Bureau of Investigation probe into his alleged illegal assets, his mother and sister Sharmila hit the campaign trail, conducting road shows and trying to strike an emotional chord with the voters.
“YSR himself had asked the officials concerned why a chopper that was not used for several months was being used that fateful day. There are several doubts over this,” Vijayamma told the election rallies in coastal region. “They took my husband’s life. Now, I fear for my son. I do not know what they will do to my son,” she said.
Though the CBI inquiry, ordered by the state government, had concluded that it was an accident, YSRC alleged that the probe did not take into consideration several doubts expressed by the people regarding the air-worthiness of the Bell-430 helicopter that crashed in Nallamala forest area.
Some of the questions being raised by the fledgling party are: Why did the authorities permit the chopper to fly in inclement weather? Why was the ageing Bell chopper chosen when an Augusta chopper, meant for official tours, was to be ready within a couple of hours? Why did the Cockpit Voice Recorder contain incomplete conversations? Why did the police fail to seal the crash site soon after shifting the bodies to preserve the evidence?
The sabotage theory has come as a campaign weapon for Jagan’s family to target the ruling party. However, Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and other senior Congress leaders rubbished the conspiracy angle and said it reflected the “sick mind” of YSRC leadership.
Court sends Jagan to CBI custody for 5 days
hyderabad — In another setback to MP Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy in disproportionate assets case, the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Saturday sent him to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) custody for five days.
The high court also dismissed Jagan’s quash petition, seeking orders to declare his arrest illegal. Though the CBI sought Jagan’s custody for 10 days, the court sent him to the probe agency’s custody for five days from June 3.
Justice B. Chandra Kumar, who had reserved his orders on Friday after hearing arguments from both the sides, pronounced it after 3.30pm on Saturday.
The YSR Congress Party leader was arrested by the CBI on May 27 and the next day the CBI court sent him to judicial custody till June 11. The CBI court on Friday dismissed Jagan’s petition for interim bail.
The court directed the CBI not to use third-degree methods on Jagan during the questioning.
As per the conditions laid down by the court, the CBI would question Jagan every day from 10.30am to 5pm in the presence of his lawyer.
The officials may question him either at the CBI office at Koti or at Dilkusha Guest House, the camp office of the central agency.
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