Jagans mother, sister draw huge crowds

                                                                                  
HYDERABAD: YSR Congress chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy may have gone from playing badminton at Chandragul Central Jail to the CBI custody, but the women of his family are going all out to generate sympathy, and votes, for him. Mother, sister and wife -- they are all out there for Jagan as the make-or-break by-poll date of June 12 approaches.
Jagan’s mother and YSR Congress honorary president Vijaya Lakshmi -- fondly called Vijayamma -- was all set to take over the party campaign for the by-polls to 18 Assembly seats and one Lok Sabha seat in the run-up to Jagan’s arrest on May 27. And she did, smoothly.
The big surprise, however, is Sharmila, Jagan’s reclusive sister, who has joined her mother in the campaign.
Adding to this considerable women power is Jagan’s wife Bharati, who joined the hunger strike against Jagan’s arrest. Bharati was seen holding the Bible -- a trademark habit of Vijayamma who apparently never leaves home without one.
The Reddy women are drawing ecstatic responses from crowds.� For them and the YSR Congress, victory in the by-polls is a crucial step towards capturing power in Andhra Pradesh.
Jagan, who had been expecting arrest, had made it clear that his mother would lead in his absence. Vijayamma is no political novice, but the surprise was the media-shy Sharmila, who launched a broadside against the CBI and the Congress, accusing them of carrying out a witch-hunt.� “My brother has done no wrong. The Congress is using the CBI to settle scores with him,” Sharmila said.
YSR’s political genes are evident in Sharmila’s public appearances.
“I am Rajanna’s (YSR) daughter and Jagan’s sister Sharmila,” is how she begins her speeches.
“Me and my mother are here to tell you about the injustice being meted out to Rajanna’s family.” Sharmila was unseen in public till now. The last time she was seen with Jagan, was when he took her and their mother to Delhi after YSR died to seek Sonia Gandhi’s permission to take out the Odarpu Yatra. Sharmila is married to evangelist Anil Kumar, an orthodox Brahmin who had converted to Christianity. When YSR was alive, he promoted Kumar. This reportedly strengthened his position in the Christian community.
After Jagan’s arrest, his political managers lost no time in roping in his sister. They prepared her itinerary, in which she would take up from where Jagan had left in the by-poll campaign.
from IBN LIVE

YSR chopper crash turns a poll issue

                                                                                     
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.

Jagan Reddy to be in CBI custody

                                                                               
Dashing the hopes of the arrested Kadapa MP YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to come out of the jail and campaign for upcoming bypolls, the Andhra Pradesh high court on Saturday granted Central Bureau of Investigation his custody for dive days for further questioning.
Agreeing with the CBI’s argument that the former chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy’s son was evasive in answering CBI questions in earlier rounds of questioning before his arrest, justice Chandra Kumar has allowed the investigating agency to question him further in the disproportionate assets case.
The CBI has been probing the disproportionate assets allegations against Jagan and had arrested him on May 27 after putting him through sessions of grilling for three consecutive days.
Allowing the CBI to take him into custody till June 7, the high court has asked the investigating agency to question Jagan in the presence of two advocates from 10.30 am to about 5 pm.
Meanwhile, the high court has dismissed a quash petition filed by Jagan challenging the CBI’s decision to arrest him.
from DNA

Vijayalakshmi's bags searched at checkpost

                                                                         
YSR Congress honorary president Y.S. Vijayalakshmi’s convoy was stopped by the police at Dindi checkpost on Friday and her baggage checked when she was proceeding towards Narasapuram in East Godavari. Ms Vijayalakshmi had just finished campaigning at Ramachandrapuram in East Godavari when her convoy was stopped.
The MLA protested when the cops checked her luggage and a heated argument ensued between YSR Congress workers and police personnel. The party workers reportedly questioned the police why they were being specifically targeting while the convoys of ministers were going unchecked.
When contacted, Amalapuram DSP S. Sridhar said, “We carried out a routine inspection of the luggage of the YSR Congress leader and other members in her convoy and found nothing unusual. We let them go.”
Vendetta behind searches: YSRC
Accusing the state government of harassing the YSR family, the YSR Congress on Saturday said that the brazen act by the police of checking the suitcases of Pulivendula MLA Y.S. Vijayalakshmi on her way to Narsapur in West Godavari district was highly deplorable and objectionable.
The party in a statement said that the highhandedness of the police was compounded by the fact that the suitcases of Ms Vijayalakshmi and her daughter Sharmila Reddy were checked by policemen and not by women police at various check-points on Thursday and Friday. The party said that Ms Vijayalakshmi's luggage was searched for two consecutive days, on Thursday and Friday, even as the convoy of PCC president Botsa Satyanarayana was let off without any checking. The YSR Congress questioned if the convoy of Telugu Desam chief N. Chandrababu Naidu would be allowed to pass or be checked in a similar manner.
According to the YSR Congress, Ms Vijyalak-shmi’s luggage was first checked at checkpost at Kongodu of Kajulur mandal, followed by the Ramachandrapuram bypass road. On Friday, when Ms Vijayalakshmi's convoy entered West Godavari, it was stopped at Dindi checkpost on the Razole-Chinchiwada highway

from DC

Mekapati hits out at Congress for ‘harassing' Jagan

                                                                             

Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy, YSR Congress Party candidate for Nellore Lok Sabha seat, came down heavily on the ruling Congress saying that it was harassing their party president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy without realising its disastrous effects in the by-elections.

Replying to criticism from rival leaders, Mr. Rajamohan Reddy explained that he sent in his resignation only because he could not digest the fact that the YSR family was being made a victim of witch-hunt by the ruling party. “I would not have caused this election. Why should I resign without a cause? It was solely for the sake of giving moral support to Jagan and YSR family,” he said.

Mr. Rajamohan Reddy held road shows at several places in Vidavalur mandal and later addressed a press conference in Nellore city. He found fault with Congress nominee T. Subbarami Reddy for making a long list of promises without attracting any notices under the violation of election code. “If TSR is ready, he should accept the change on anything that will really benefit people,” he added.

Mr. Reddy said he had decided to address the problem of drinking water in Nellore constituency in the next two years. He would dedicate the entire Rs. 5 crore amount under MPLADS coupled with a matching fund from his own pocket to the solve the water problem completely.

from Hindu

YSRCP workers observe fast

                                                                                  

Even as the courts have set aside the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy's argument that his arrest was illegal, the party activists on Saturday staged a day-long relay fast in front of Sub-Collector's office over the latter's arrest.

The protestors raised slogans against the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which was probing into the disproportionate assets case against Mr. Jagan. The activists led by the YSRCP Vijayawada election in-charge P. Gowtham Reddy staged a sit-in before the Sub-Collector's office. Alleging that Jagan's arrest was a conspiracy planned by the Congress and Telugu Desam Party, the party workers blamed the CBI for acting at the behest of the Government.

Disunity among the YSRCP came to the fore with only Mr. Gowtham Reddy participating in the relay fast, which was organised in a dramatic style six days after the arrest of Mr. Jagan.

Former MLAs Jaleel Khan and Vangaveeta Radha and former mayor Tadi Shakuntala, who are also in the YSRCP, were not seen in the relay fast camp.

In Jagan's absence, mother, sister shine in campaign

                                                                     
Hyderabad: While Congress chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy's hopes of campaigning in June 12 bypolls in the
state were dashed by the Andhra Pradesh High Court which gave his 5-day custody to CBI in disproportionate asset case, the setback could turn into an advantage for his party.
Jagan has been in the Chanchalguda prison since Monday following his arrest by CBI in the disproportionate assets case.
However, his mother-MLA YS Vijaya and sister Sharmila are carrying the party mantle in Jagan's absence and if the crowds at their road shows are any indication, the women duo have been making quite an impact.
While Vijaya, widow of the late Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, is striking an emotional chord with the electorate, Sharmila has been the real show-stealer through her crisp speeches.
While Jagan has to face CBI's grilling, the mother-daughter duo will question the Congress government's performance.
It's a mind game that the YSRC leadership is now playing to further its electoral prospects as they shape the party's future.
from IBN LIVE