M A I N   N E W S

In Delhi, rebel Jagan takes on Congress
Says Andhra Pradesh Govt at his mercy, flays PM
Faraz Ahmad
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 11
The Congress watched with bated breath as ex-Kadapa MP Jaganmohan Reddy demonstrated his political clout to his former party with an impressive crowd of supporters cheering him at Jantar Mantar as he sat on a day-long fast demanding scrapping of the Krishna Water Tribunal award, terming it as anti-Andhra farmers.

The issue of farmers and Krishna waters came in as a handy ploy for the former Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy’s ambitious son, nursing a grievance against his erstwhile party for not crowning him.

But he could not contain himself for long. Winding up the show, he told a large posse of newsmen, “If I want, the Andhra Pradesh Government will fall right now. I am currently doing a favor to the Congress party. All MLAs and MPs with me will contest on my party’s ticket in the next elections.“ Two Congress MPs and 24 party MLAs along with two from the Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) and one from the TDP marked their presence at today’s jamboree. A Congress MLC was also present on the occasion.

Jagan criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for not giving him audience and attacked Justice Sri Krishna for the Krishna river tribunal award, which he described as unfair and unscientific.

He had brought a large number of supporters from his home state in a special train, with all airconditioned three-tier coaches. The employees of the GMR company - owned by a close relative of one of the central Congress leaders and a former Union Minister - from the Indira Gandhi International Airport stood there with placards cheering the speakers.

Though the former MP arrived only late last night, evidently his supporters had made elaborate arrangements. There were life-size banners hung across buildings on the Parliament Street and a white shamiana and mattresses were placed for the supporters to sit and watch him observe his fast.

The implication of Jaganmohan’s expedition was not lost on the Congress either. Party sources said they would wait for the new CM, Kiran Kumar Reddy, to grasp the political situation fully and win back the MLAs to sustain his government.

The Congress has a slender majority of just nine MLAs in the 294- member Andhra Pradesh Assembly. If the 24 MLAs quit the Congress, the government would lose its majority.