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Jaipal Reddy: JD's one-man-army in Andhra

Shireen in Hyderabad

After an uneventful existence for almost a decade, the Janata Dal has almost folded up in Andhra Pradesh. With the defection of state JD president Nayani Narasimha Reddy along with his followers to the ruling Telugu Desam Party on Friday, the JD has been reduced to a one-man outfit of former Union information and broadcasting minister S Jaipal Reddy.

Jaipal Reddy sided with former prime minister H D Deve Gowda in the present split in the JD.

The Janata Dal, which emerged as a political force in 1989 in the country, however, had a marginal role in Andhra Pradesh politics. The party consisted of a handful of leaders, including former Member of Parliament P Babul Reddy, former Members of the Legislative Assembly V Sriramulu, C Narsi Reddy, besides Jaipal Reddy and Narasimha Reddy.

For its survival, the party had an electoral understanding with the TDP in successive elections to the state assembly, the Lok Sabha and even the Rajya Sabha.

In 1989, the JD unsuccessfully contested two Lok Sabha seats and polled a paltry 1.6 percent of the votes in the state. In 1991 also, the party failed to win the two seats it contested. In 1996, the party did not contest a single Lok Sabha seat in the state. It was in 1998 that Jaipal Reddy managed to win the Mahbubnagar seat. The JD, which contested a single seat, managed to get less than one percent of the total votes in the state.

Meanwhile, there is strong speculation in Congress circles in the state over Jaipal Reddy joining the party and contesting the ensuing Lok Sabha elections from Mahbubnagar constituency.

The rumours were so strong that the former Union minister and ex-president of AP Congress Committee Dr Mallikarjun, who was trounced by Jaipal Reddy in the 1998 polls, rushed to Gandhi Bhavan, the party headquarters, to preclude any such move.

Jaipal Reddy is no stranger to the Congress. He had his political baptism in the Congress over three decades ago as a student activist. He has had a chequered political and electoral career. Elected to the state assembly on the Congress ticket from Kalwakurthi in 1972, he turned a dissident and a bitter critic of then prime minister Indira Gandhi following the imposition of national emergency in June 1975.

Jaipal Reddy joined the Janata Party in 1977. He was re-elected to the assembly in 1978 and 1983 from Kalwakurthi. He contested the 1980 Lok Sabha polls from Medak constituency as the common opposition candidate against Indira Gandhi. He was trounced by the huge margin of 219,124 votes. He was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time in 1984 from Mahbubnagar constituency on Janata Party ticket.

He was inducted into the United Front ministry headed by Inder Kumar Gujral in May 1997 and entrusted the powerful information and broadcasting portfolio. His maiden ministerial assignment lasted barely 10 months.

Hailing from a prominent landlord family of Amangal in Kalwakurthi, 57-year-old Jaipal Reddy is a soft-spoken but high-profile politician. He holds a master's degree in English Literature and a bachelor's degree in journalism from Osmania University.

He shot into prominence through his consistent campaign in Parliament and outside during 1984-89 on issues like Bofors, HDW, HBJ pipeline and other scams and again during 1990-96 over the securities scam and other scandals. He acted as a United Front spokesman during 1996-98.

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