Jagan reshuffles YSRC, preparing for ‘Mission 175’

VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, as president of YSR Congress, has started a reshuffle in the ruling party, replacing party presidents and coordinators of various districts. The focus is on  strengthening the YSRC in the run-up to the ‘Mission 175 Election 2024’ endeavour.

The YSRC leadership gave importance to caste equations while allocating party posts, giving due share to the BCs and allied groups. Ten posts of   district presidents were given to the BCs, five to Kapus, five to Reddys, two to STs and one each to SCs, Vysyas, and Kshatriyas.

The Opposition parties, including arch-rival the Telugu Desam, have accused the Chief Minister of giving top priority to Reddys in the YSRC and are spreading this message among the masses.

In 2019, the domination of Kammas was spectacular in the TD. This created a negative impact on the public, the party felt, and hence the TD is also adopting an approach similar to that of the ruling party.

YSRC legislators are reaching out to every house under the Gadapa Gadapaku Mana Prabhutvam. Party leaders and the Chief Minister himself are analysing the progress of the campaign as also the capabilities of the leaders, from time to time, by conducting workshops and reviewing their performances through progress reports.  

Further, the TD and the Jana Sena are targeting Jagan Mohan Reddy with an accusation that he has put AP into the hands of four Reddys — Vijayasai Reddy, Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy, Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy and Y.V. Subba Reddy — and that they are dominating the party by holding the posts of regional coordinators.

Keeping this in mind, the Chief Minister has included leaders of BC and Kamma communities in the present reshuffle. The post of YSRC regional coordinator for Parvathipuram, Srikakulam, and Alluri districts was given to minister Botsa Satyanarayana, who belongs to a BC community.

TTD chairman Subba Reddy was named as coordinator for Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Anakapalli districts.  

YSRC MP (Rajya Sabha) Pilli Subhashchandra Bose, from a BC community, gets Kakinada, East Godavari, Konaseema, West Godavari, and Eluru districts, along with another MP, Midhun Reddy. 

Marri Rajasekhar, who was barred from getting any post since 2019 and who belongs to the Kamma community, and MP Alla Ayodya Rami Reddy, considered very close to the CM, were given the charge of Guntur, NTR, and Krishna districts.  Prakasam, Bapatla, and Palnadu districts were handed over to MP Beeda Mastan Rao along with Bhumana Karunakar Reddy.

Kadapa, Tirupati, and Nellore districts will be handled by former minister Balineni Srinivasa Reddy. Nandyala and Kurnool districts were handed over to Akepati Amarnadha Reddy. Anantapur, Chittoor, Annamayya and the Sri Sathya Sai districts were put in the hands of minister Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy.

Former ministers Anil Kumar Yadav and Kodali Nani were also removed from their posts as they were not active ever since they were stripped of their ministerial posts.  

Former minister Muttamsetti Srinivas Rao alias Avanti Srinivas was removed from the Visakhapatnam district president post since he was not active and Panchakarla Ramesh was appointed as the new president. Another former minister Mekathoti Sucharita had been sulking from his responsibilities while on the YSRC high command for the last one year was replaced with MLC Dokka Manikyavara Prasad who belongs to the Madiga community.

Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy was removed from the Tirupadi district president post and Nedurumalli Ram Kumar was given the post. The coordinator post was given to Bhaskar Reddy.

Former minister Pushpa Srivani was removed and her husband Pareekshittu Raju was given the district president post.

Senior YSRC leaders believe that the reshuffle in the party would not only change the shape of the party but also rejuvenate it. They said the party high command has effected many changes in the party keeping in view the ground realities as well as the strengths and weak spots of the party.