Jagan loses grip as loyalists turn to Cong

YSR Congress chief and Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy was in damage-control mode on Saturday after several Congress MLAs loyal to him till now decided to return to the Congress fold.

Jaganmohan invited the six MLAs, 20 other Congress MLAs, and two TDP MLAs to his house Saturday to prevail upon them but the six MLAs did not turn up. While Jaganmohan was trying hard to make the MLAs change their minds, Congress leaders, including APCC president Botsa Satyanarayana, kept in touch with the MLAs, reassuring them that their political future lay in Congress and not with Jaganmohan.

Many of the Congress MLAs supporting Jaganmohan were already unhappy with him for ignoring them in spite of taking the risk of facing disciplinary action from the Congress. "The CBI inquiry against Jaganmohan has unnerved the MLAs. The noose is tightening. If Jaganmohan had taken the MLAs into confidence and discussed things, it may have been different. The MLAs face political isolation, while in the end they may find themselves supporting a man being hounded by the investigating agencies," said Health Minister D L Ravindra Reddy, who is coordinating with the MLAs to woo them back to the Congress.

The CBI had last week summoned Jaganmohan to record his statement in the illegal mining case it filed against Gali Janardhana Reddy, while it is still investigating a separate case against the YSR Congress leader for allegedly amassing wealth illegally using his late father YS Rajasekhara Reddy's power and influence while he was the CM from 2004 to September 2009.

On Friday, at least six Congress MLAs, who had earlier resigned in protest against the inclusion of late YSR's name in the CBI FIR against Jaganmohan, met Speaker N Manohar and urged him not to consider their resignation letters. When they submitted their resignation letters on August 21, they had urged the Speaker to accept them.

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