Exuding confidence of a landslide victory in Seemandhra, YSR Congress Party president YS Jaganmohan Reddy said that he is keeping all the options open on the issue of the next Government at the Centre.
After casting his vote at Bakarapuram polling booth in Pulivendula Assembly constituency in Kadapa district, his family fiefdom, Jagan told the media that his future strategy will be linked to the interest of Seemandhra State. “The interest of the State will be the most important for me,” he said.
When asked whether he will be willing to do business with Narendra Modi of the BJP, he quipped, “If the God blesses us with good numbers we will not be dependent on any individual. Others will be dependent on us and they will come to us for support,” he said.
Jagan who won Kadapa lok Sabha seat in 2009 and 2011 with a record majority, is contesting this for the Assembly as he has set his eyes on becoming the first Chief Minister of Seemandhra.
In the last lap of the intense election campaign Jagan had come under fierce attack both from BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and his ally Telugu Desam party president N Chandrababu Naidu and he too had retaliated in equally strong manner. Though before the elections, he had set the rider that he was open to support any party or alliance except Congress, his today’s statement was sans any such rider.
Another senior YSRCP leader and party’s candidate from Nellore Parliamentary constituency Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy said that the party will bag 150 of the 175 Assembly seats and all the 25 lok Sabha seats. “Nobody can stop the Jagan wave in the State,” he said.
Observers say that apart from the generous financial support from the Centre to the new State of Seemandhra, Jagan will also have a strong personal reason to be on good terms with the new Government at the Centre. He is accused in several cases of graft and money laundering. If he is convicted in those cases, where the CBI has already filed 7 chargesheets, Jagan can be sentenced to seven years imprisonment and can effectively put an end to his political career.
But what a friendly Government can help him when the CBI investigations into his disproportionate assets was under the supervision of the High Court remains to be seen. On the other hand, any future alliance Government in Delhi will also not find it easy to be dependent on a tainted politician like Jagan if it comes to power on the promise of cleansing the public life of corruption.