Smart people learn from their mistakes. But the real sharp ones learn from the mistakes of others. But YS Jagan, somehow, doesn’t learn the trick of the trade. He exposed his own shallowness while announcing the nomination of his trusted lieutenant V Vijaya Sai Reddy to the Rajya Sabha as the candidate on behalf of YSR Congress on Thursday.
While heaping encomiums on Vijaya Sai Reddy, the YSRC president somehow failed to factor in the backlash for whatever he was saying. He asserted that Sai Reddy was a loyalist to the party and his probity was beyond any doubt. Good. Everybody, including his bete noire Chandrababu Naidu would also not disagree. If that quality has qualified Sai Reddy to be nominated as the Rajya Sabha candidate, it is fine. Nobody should have any objection to that.
At a time when his chips are down, and 17 MLAs had already left the party and two more – Pothula Rama Rao from Kandukur and Ashok Reddy from Giddalur in Prakasam district – have also queued up to cross over from the YSR Congress to the Telugu Desam Party, Jagan should measure every word that he is uttering.
His emotional outburst that if 20 MLAs crossed over from the TDP, the government could be toppled had fallen flat on his face. Almost an equal number of MLAs left the party “looking at development” taken up by the TDP Government. If he has to topple the government now, at least 40 MLAs have to cross over to his side from the TDP. This is next to impossible. Thus, he pushed himself into an embarrassing situation.
Now, what is it that he said that had recoiled? He said Sai Reddy was also a co-accused along with him in the cases “foisted against” him. Though enormous pressure was mounted on Sai Reddy to turn approver so that the noose around his (Jagan) neck could be tightened, Sai Reddy remained “truthful” and “stood by me.”
Jagan actually did not have to rant all this. He could have just said that Sai Reddy was nominated based on his loyalty and commitment to the party and he would highlight the YSRC standpoint in the Upper House. But, Jagan could not make that air-tight statement, giving scope for his critics to raise a bogey against him.
Picking up the gauntlet, Minister K Acchen Naidu said that Jagan had ditched democracy by nominating a “co-criminal” to the Rajya Sabha. And, leaders in the TDP bandwagon will use the choicest of abuses against Jagan, for they have been indulging in character assassination of Jagan with missionary zeal. Acchen Naidu brought forth how the Ethics Committee of Rajya Sabha advised the House to rusticate the membership of Vijay Mallya.
Regardless of Acche Naidu’s remarks, and the slew of possible attacks from Bonda Umaaheswara Rao, Devineni Umamaheswara Rao, Gorantla Bucchaiah Chowdary, Dhullipalla Narendra, Gali Muddukrishnama Naidu, Yalamanchili Babu Rajendra Prasad, Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, and maybe Jaleel Khan, Jyothula Nehru and a few others from the Mahanadu platform in Tirupati, Jagan should have assessed what he meant was conveyed properly.
What the Leader of the Opposition, however, conveyed to people was that Sai Reddy’s nomination was part of a quid pro quo arrangement.
