"Sitting in this (chief minister's) chair, it's me who is feeling tormented. How come he (Jagan) makes a claim that the ministers and MLAs are feeling tortured, as if I have prevented them from taking part in his yatra?"
This was Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah's reaction on Monday to what Congress MP and Y S Jaganmohan Reddy said during the yatra in Srikakulam district on Saturday. Jagan had said that ministers and MLAs were feeling tortured as they were being prevented from taking part in his yatra, which has invited flak from various quarters including the Congress leaders over the pompous manner it was being conducted and also political overtones in the MP's impromptu public speeches.
The chief minister reportedly poured out his anguish over the MP's open outbursts, against the Congress leadership in general and him in particular, when a handful of MLAs met him in his chambers in the state assembly. Many MLAs lined up to meet Rosaiah as the Assembly resumed after a two-day holiday and it was during this period that the recalcitrant Jagan launched the attack on the chief minister as well as the Congress leadership.
"I have always treated him like a son but he is casting aspersions on me in an uncharitable manner," Rosaiah regretted. An MLA who was present on the occasion quoted Rosaiah as saying, "I have told a number of times that I did not lobby to become the chief minister (after Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's death). "As a true soldier of the party, I have followed the Congress high command's directions. But he (Jagan) is talking as if I have grabbed the post from him."
Rosaiah also said that the government was already facing an attack from Opposition parties on various issues in the ongoing monsoon session of the Assembly. "There are a host of problems like the grave financial crisis faced by the government, by-elections in Telangana, law and order and many more to be tackled by us. This yatra is only further vitiating the atmosphere and causing unnecessary headache. Anyway, the high command is well aware of everything and will take appropriate action when time comes," Rosaiah was quoted as saying.
Around the same time, TDP and CPI MLAs staged a sit-in outside his chamber demanding constitution of a House Committee to probe illegal mining by YSR's kin in Khammam district, forcing Rosaiah to come out and talk to them.
