Trying to control the damage caused by his tiff with uncle YS Vivekanand Reddy, the rebel Congress leader from Kadapa YS Jaganmohan Reddy said that he will continue to like his uncle wherever he was. "Wherever he might be, I will be proud of him. I will always love him", Jagan said reacting to Vivekanand Reddy joining the state cabinet.
But he said that he was pained and anguished that Congress president Sonia Gandhi had used his uncle to create a rift in his family. Reacting to the reports in the local media that he had come to blows during his meeting with Vivekanand on Tuesday, Jagan said that his uncle was someone he respected.
"It is true that we met in the presence of our family members and spoke. There was a lack of agreement between us. But all the other stories about an argument are false and baseless", Jagan said. He said that such reports by the media had badly hurt him.
"For us, he (Vivekanand) is still part of our family", he said However he remained silent on his future course of action. As Hundreds of his slogan-shouting supporters milled around his residence in Kadapa on Wednesday, he came out on the balcony for some time and waved at the crowd.
Jagan came out with the clarification in Kadapa even as his group was getting ready to meet in Hyderabad on Thursday to discuss the future plans. Pilli Subhash Chandra Bose, a former minister and senior legislator in Jagan's camp told the reporters that the meeting will be attended by MLAs, MLCs and others to decide whether to remain in Congress or not. However no MP was likely to attend the meeting, though group says that they have support of four MPs.
"By dropping the ministers who had supported Jagan, Congress leadership has sent a clear message that we should decide whether we want to remain in Congress or not", he said.
Pilli was among the five ministers of Rosaiah cabinet who were not inducted in the ministry by Kiran Kumar Reddy. He said that Jaganmohan Reddy will soon launch his party and he will remain with him.
Another MLA from Anantapur Gurnath Reddy also announced his support to Jaganmohan Reddy. "We are had become MLAs and ministers because of the great leader YS Rajasekhar Reddy", he said
