How Jagan Mohan Reddy’s deep ties with aide Vijayasai Reddy turned into bad blood

“Vijayasai Reddy surrendered the remaining three-and-a-half years of his Rajya Sabha term to Naidu by resigning. He knows that YSRCP cannot renominate him (to the Upper House) because we do not have enough MLAs, so he quit knowing fully well that it will benefit the NDA. He bowed down before Chandrababu. When such a person gives statements to investigation agencies what is their value? What does it say about that person,’’ Jagan said while addressing a press conference.

He accused the Naidu government of allegedly “coercing people” to give statements or make “confessions” to “indict” the previous YSRCP government in the alleged Rs 3,200 crore Andhra Pradesh liquor scam surrounding it.

In April, Vijayasai was summoned by the state police’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) investigating the alleged liquor scam to give a statement in the case. The YSRCP has accused him of “implicating names” associated with the previous Jagan-led party government in his deposition to the SIT. The party has claimed that “Vijayasai has become a whistleblower to protect himself”.

Last week, the SIT arrested former secretary in the then CM Jagan’s office and retired IAS officer, K Dhanunjaya Reddy, and ex-officer on special duty (OSD) to Jagan, P Krishna Mohan Reddy, for their alleged involvement in the liquor scandal case.

YSRCP MP and Lok Sabha floor leader P V Midhun Reddy, former AP State Beverages Corporation Ltd (APSBCL) managing director D Vasudeva Reddy and APSBCL special officer Satya Prasad are also among the accused in this case.

In January, Vijayasai, 67, resigned from the YSRCP as well as his Rajya Sabha membership, citing “personal reasons”. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha as a YSRCP nominee for his first term in 2016 and was later appointed by Jagan as the YSRCP Parliamentary Party leader.

In March 2024, in the run-up to the Lok Sabha and state Assembly polls, when Jagan asked Vijayasai to contest from the Nellore Lok Sabha constituency, he was said to be initially reluctant to enter the fray in view of the formidabe challenge from the NDA coalition comprising the TDP, JanaSena Party and BJP. He finally agreed to contest, but lost to the TDP candidate.

The YSRCP was routed in both the polls following which the equations between Vijayasai and Jagan were strained. Their relations broke down fully in January when Vijayasai resigned from the party, sources said.

Vijayasai was once a close confidant of Jagan, who was not only the YSRCP national general secretary but was also an advisor and planner for the party chief. He had a flourishing career as a chartered accountant before he joined politics. He has been close to Jagan’s family since 1980, when he first met his father and former Congress stalwart, late Y S Rajashekara Reddy, who invited him to join politics.

Vijayasai became a financial advisor to the YSR family, especially to Jagan who had several businesses at that time. The then undivided Andhra Pradesh CM YSR had first nominated Vijayasai to the Board of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam in 2006.

While Vijayasai was looking after the YSR family’s business interests, it was not until the death of YSR in a helicopter crash in September 2009 that he became close to Jagan as he extended his solidarity to the devastated family and stood with them in the time of their crisis.

Vijayasai has been made an accused along with Jagan and others in several cases of alleged corruption being probed by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Last December, the AP CID named Vijayasai in an FIR for allegedly forcing a share-holder in Kakinada Seaports Ltd (KSPL), Karnati Venkateswara Rao, to sell his shares to “favour” Jagan, which were acquired through the Aurobindo Pharma group.

In 2012, the CBI named both Jagan and Vijayasai in its chargesheets in the disproportionate assets and quid pro quo cases. Vijayasai has been out on bail in these cases since October 2013. After the CBI filed the cases, he became closer to Jagan until his resignation.

Jagan has now also slammed the Naidu government for allegedly “fabricating” the liquor scam case against the YSRCP dispensation, accusing the TDP supremo of “being vindictive and foisting false cases against opponents”.