Chandrababu Naidu wants to fix' Jagan Mohan Reddy before polls

Hyderabad: Telugu Desam president and AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had very recently said in a party meeting that he would fix YSRC chief Jagan Mohan Reddy before the 2019 elections as well as strengthen the TD in some Assembly segments where it was presently weak.

According to sources close to Mr Naidu, he was not initially interested in luring YSRC MLAs into the party, but after the YSR Congress decided to get involved in caste-related agitations including the Kapus’ stir in East Godavari district, he realised that he would have to fix Mr Reddy politically by encouraging mass defections into the Telugu Desam. “Jagan is underestimating my calibre, he will never know how I am going to hit him, soon he will face the music,” Mr Naidu had said in the meting.

Simultaneously, TD members started spreading rumours in political circles that Mr Jaganmohan Reddy was likely to be jailed again as the courts would deliver their verdict against him before the 2019 elections, awarding a jail term exceeding two years and barring him from contesting in the elections. Mr Naidu had asked his ministers, MPs and MLAs to stay in touch with YSRC legislators and bring them into the TD fold. The CM and his son, Mr Nara Lokesh, decided to weaken Mr Reddy by first encouraging defections. Later, steps would be taken by the government to fix him legally, said sources.

When contacted, Mr Naidu’s trusted aide and Rajya Sabha member C.M. Ramesh said, “We are flooded with requests from YSRC MLAs to join the TD. The entries will continue for some more time; even during the Assembly Budget session starting from March 5, some YSRC MLAs will rebel against Jagan in the House itself, you will witness the game.”