Should Y S Jaganmohan Reddy be permitted to step into his father YS Rajasekhar Reddy’s shoes? According to his followers,Jaganmohan has the backing of some 140 of the 158 Congress MLAs from the state. In the best democratic tradition he is entitled to become chief minister.
Jaganmohan has already conveyed an indirect threat by sending word to the Congress that ” the party cannot ignore the wishes of the people.”
Earlier,the 35 year old Jaganmohan had issued a cleverly crafted statement urging his followers not to get out of hand in the continuing campaign to compel Delhi to make him chief minister. His statement harped on the fact that his father loyally served successive generations of the Gandhi family.
The subtext seemed to suggest,that if the Gandhis can be a ruling dynasty at the Centre,why not the Reddys in the state.
But are the two really comparable? The majority of the MLAs of Andhra back Jaganmohan,because they were handpicked by his father.
But he is unlikely to be the first choice of the people of the state,even if his camp followers are brandishing a Nielson poll which suggests that 78 per cent of Andhra want him to be chief minister. The people of Andhra expect as their leader someone more experienced in public life and displaying more probity in his business dealings.
In ten years Jaganmohan has built up a fortune of several hundred crores through coal,mining and power companies. Just six months back,TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu in the Andhra assembly had alleged that the modus operandi for Jaganmohan’s phenomenal business success was to initially purchase shares of a company at a low price and then sell them at a huge premium to various industrial houses which needed the goodwill of the state government.
Naidu claimed that investors who had put money into Jagan’s business ventures were rewarded with infrastructure projects,irrigation contracts and Special Economic Zones.
Naidu charged that Jaganmohan had violated foreign direct investment and foreign exchange norms,while raising money for his companies. He had also resorted to money laundering. As an example,he cited the case of Sandu Power. In 2004 Jaganmohan took over a defunct power project with a paid up capital of Rs 53 crore. He sold share prices at Rs 10 each to two Mauritius-based companies at a premium of Rs 61 per share,expanding his capital base to Rs 124 crore. Jagan’s overnight business successes include: Jagati Publications which launched a Telegu newspaper,Sakshi,in February 2008. Today Sakshi is the newspaper with the largest circulation in the state.
Jaganmohan’s father,YSR,did not fit into the Congress’s preferred mould for chief ministers. Reddy was an autocrat whose writ ran throughout the state. He had no place for dissent or political rivals in his government. His fellow Reddys,who constitute only seven per cent of the state’s population,were propelled into key positions in all spheres.
A 12-page memorandum giving a list of Reddy placements in both political and official posts is an eye opener. Reddys have monopolised important ministerial berths in the state government and also grabbed most of the state representation at the Centre.
Reddys are chairpersons of most of the commissions and tribunals,Assembly house committees ,urban development authorities,co-operative central banks,agriculture market committees,and municipal committees. They are also,in disproportionate numbers,vice chancellors,law officers and key officials in civil administration and the police.
The Congress generally opts for submissive CMs who are dependent on the goodwill of the Central leadership for survival. It does not encourage regional satraps with a power base of their own.
In fact,N T Rama Rao was able to conquer this once solidly Congress bastion in the early eighties by projecting the issue of Telegu pride and highlighting the cavalier and condescending manner in which a succession of weak Congress chief ministers had been treated by the party high command in Delhi. Under Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi,Andhra saw seven chief ministers changed in the space of a decade.
Sonia Gandhi,unlike Indira Gandhi,is not so particular in concentrating all power in her hands. Especially as YSR earned a formidable reputation as a fund raiser who filled the party’s coffers before every election and played a decisive role in the Congress’s victories in both the Parliamentary and Assembly elections of 2004 and 2009.
In the recent Parliamentary poll the Congress won 33 out of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
Permitting the father,a seasoned politician,to hold complete sway over the state is one thing. The Congress can ill afford to entrust the keys to Andhra to his son. Spawning a Reddy dynasty,would mean building up a regional chieftain who would eventually become too powerful for the party to control. Besides,Jaganmohan’s antecedents would prove embarrassing for a party keen to project an image of circumspection and correctness.
After all,Rahul Gandhi may be the crown prince,but he has set an inspiring example by not displaying unseemly haste to grab the levers of power,in a country where increasingly lineage rather than merit has become the deciding factor in political appointments.
