A sons yatra

You can be forgiven for mistaking Y S Jaganmohans Odarpu Yatra for an election campaign.

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A sons yatra

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You can be forgiven for mistaking Y S Jaganmohans Odarpu Yatra for an election campaign. It is nothing less. The money is flowing freely,mobilisation is visible,and short of asking for votes,MLAs and second-rung Congress leaders are doing everything to please the Kadapa MP. As politics drives Jagans motorcade,in between,consoling families has taken a back seat.

Other things have changed too. The initial euphoria,witnessed in Srikakulam from where he started the yatra,has ebbed. Srikakulam is a Congress stronghold with nine of the 10 MLAs in the district from the party. But East Godavari,where he is passing through now,is a different story. Of the 19 MLAs,if 11 belong to the Congress,the TDP and PRP with four each also have their strongholds. With the yatra losing steam,Jagans team is pulling out all the stops to mobilise crowds.

Like yesterday afternoon,when he arrived at Kothanandur,around 100 km from Kakinada. Second-rung leaders and Mandal Parishad members desperately sought people,who showed scant interest,though Jagan was supposed to unveil a statue of YSR here. Youth Congress workers and Jagan Yuva Sena went around nearby villages,and soon,a tractor-trailer with 40 people drove in. A few minutes later,at least 20 taxis brought in more people. About 100 children from the nearby Sri Sai Vidyalaya were also brought and made to stand in the hot sun.

However,some time later,tired of waiting for a delayed Jagan,the people started leaving. Mandal Parishad members now jumped onto the stage with speeches eulogising YSR Reddy,narrating for about half-an-hour the pro-schemes being implemented in the state courtesy the late CM. They ended their speeches with calls to the people to stay back to meet YSRs son.

Let us welcome the would-be chief minister,son of YSR, shouted Mandal Parishad member V Ramana.

In fact,at no place is Jagan talked about as an individual leader. Whether it is people or local-level leaders,everyone starts off with YSR and finally refers to him. Jagan too talks little about himself,invoking his father at every rally to connect with the people.

Many feel its wrong that Jagan is using a consolation yatra for his father to gain political mileage. YSR was a great leader,that is why we empathise with Jaganmohan. But it is becoming too political now, Krishna Reddy,a member of the Kakinada Agriculture Marketing Committee,said.

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One of the stops Jagan made was in Tuni town,where there are no families whose loved ones reportedly killed themselves after YSRs untimely death,to be consoled. Irrespective of what anyone thinks of me,I am here for you. When I lost my father,I thought I am all alone. But after seeing all of you,I know I have a big family, he said.

In heartening news for Jagan,unlike in Srikakulam,where MLAs avoided being seen with him,in East Godavari,Kakinada City MLA D Chandrasekhara Reddy and Tuni MLA Venkat Krishnam Raju decided to join him on some legs. T Narasimham,Congress MLA from Jaggampeta,joined Jagans yatra in his constituency.

I am not afraid of any disciplinary action. I am an MLA today because of Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and I owe a debt to him. It is time to repay, another MLA,R Varaprasad from Razole,added.

Congress leaders claimed all the tour arrangements were being made by local MLAs. It is a difficult situation. We dont want to go against the party,and on the other hand,we dont want to offend Jaganmohan because we respect his father, an MLA travelling with Jagan said.

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The Kadapa MP himself seems to have worked out his back-up plan. Posters which earlier had photos of YSR and Jagan alone now also carry photos of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.