Journalism of Courage
YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) leader V Vijayasai Reddy, whose praises for the BJP and its central ministers often stump the saffron party’s Andhra Pradesh unit and take the sting out of the Opposition party’s attacks on the YSRCP, is a close confidant of Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.
The 64-year-old Rajya Sabha MP and YSRCP national general secretary, Vijayasai has had a flourishing career as a chartered accountant with offices in several cities. He has been close to the YSR family since 1980 when he first met late Dr Y S Rajashekara Reddy, Jagan’s father and ex-CM, at a marriage function, who invited him to join politics.
Vijayasai then became the financial advisor to the YSR family, especially to Jagan who had several businesses at that time. The then CM YSR had in 2006 nominated him to the board of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam for two terms.
While Vijayasai was looking after the YSR family’s business interests, it was not until the death of CM YSR in a helicopter crash in September 2009 that he became very close to Jagan as he extended his solidarity with the devastated YSR family and stood with them in their time of crisis.
“In 2012, the CBI named both Jagan and Vijayasai in the chargesheets in the disproportionate assets and quid pro quo cases. Vijaysai has been out on bail since October 2013. After the CBI filed the cases, he has become closer to Jagan as a friend and confidant,” a YSRCP leader said. “At present, while the CM looks after the governance, Vijaysai looks after the party’s affairs. The CM trusts him at lot and he is his eyes and ears, a very close confidant,’’ he said.
YSRCP leaders say that Vijayasai is a “clever strategist” and has a “sharp political mind”. He was also said to have convinced Jagan, the YSRCP founder and president, to hire election strategist Prashant Kishor as an advisor for the 2019 Assembly elections, that eventually proved successful.
Vijayasai was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2016 and was appointed by Jagan as the leader of the YSRCP Parliamentary Party in June 2019.
An articulate and soft-spoken leader, Vijayasai is however not considered by many to “fit the description of a typical serious politician”. While he argues eloquently in Parliament on behalf of the YSRCP, Vijayasai is also known to maintain cordial relations with leaders cutting across the party lines.
He has made news by touching Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s feet, hopping onto a train to greet RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat while it was passing through Andhra Pradesh, or by “hobnobbing” with the Left leaders, Congress leaders like Shashi Tharoor, or Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief and West Bengal CM Mamta Bannerjee.
Even Vijayasai’s criticism of Andhra Opposition leaders and Jagan’s arch-rivals like the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supremo, N Chandrababu Naidu, is usually measured and nuanced and not outbursts or rants.
Entrusting him more responsibilities, Jagan has now appointed Vijayasai as the party in-charge of the north Andhra Pradesh region as well as the in-charge of all YSRCP-affiliated wings. The CM has also entrusted him with the task of organising the YSRCP’s plenary event during 8-9 July at Guntur.
The state BJP leaders, who welcomed their party president J P Nadda at Vijaywada Monday, said they were unaware of the context in which Vijayasai praised the party or its central ministers. Nadda is on a two-day visit to Andhra Pradesh.
