Thumping win for Jagan, mother in AP by-polls

YSR Congress president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy has proved that he was the real heir to the political legacy of his father late Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy.

He won the Kadapa Lok Sabha seat with an unprecedented majority of 5.13 lakh votes, breaking the record of the former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao's victory in 1991 from Nandyal Lok Sabha constituency. Both his main opponents D L Ravindra Reddy of Congress and M V Mysoora Reddy of the Telugu Desam Party lost their deposits in a fiercely fought by-election.

With inputs from PTI

Not to be left behind Jagan's mother Vijaya Lakshmi also won from Pulivendula assembly constituency riding on a sympathy wave. She won with a majority of more than 85,000 votes over her brother-in-law Y S Vivekanand Reddy. She broke the record of her husband's previous victory margin of more than 68,000 votes.

The Jagan wave swept through all the seven assembly segments of the Lok Sabha constituency proving that it remains a family pocket-borough. He secured a clear majority in Mydukur constituency of D L Ravindra Reddy. He got a majority of 108,000 votes from Pulivendula assembly constituency.

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Though Jaganmohan Reddy's victory was largely anticipated but the final figures were beyond everybody's expectations.  While the 38-year-old Jagan polled 651,999 votes, Ravindra Reddy of Congress got 136,558 and M V Mysoora Reddy of the TDP got 129,263 votes.

Jagan also bettered his 2009 victory margin of 1.78 lakh when he had made his electoral debut under the leadership of his father.

While the Congress was shell-shocked over the by-poll outcome, there were huge celebrations in YSR Congress. Thousands of Jagan supporters were dancing on the streets in Kadapa and Pulivendula, bursting crackers, distributing sweets and shouting slogans of "Jai Jagan".

In its first reaction to the outcome, the YSR Congress party has demanded the resignation of all the 16 state ministers who had campaigned against Jagan in Kadapa.

Thousands of Jagan supporters were dancing on the streets in Kadapa and Pulivendula, bursting crackers, distributing sweets and shouting slogans of "Jai Jagan".

Party spokesperson Ambatti Ram Babu said, "16 ministers with the Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy and future Chief Minister Chiranjeevi campaigned against Jagan but they could not save the deposit of their candidate. If they have any shame, they should resign immediately. At least Ravindra Reddy should quit the cabinet," he said.

Jagan's thumping victory has created a stir in the state politics and talk of possible realignment of political forces in the state has begun. Especially the Congress MLAs, who were sitting on the wall biding for the time has also started rethinking about their options.

The effects of the Congress breaking in Andhra Pradesh have already begun to show with several members of that party coming out in the open before the media and congratulating Jagan Mohan Reddy who had an outstanding win in the Kadapa by polls.

Political observers say that in the days to come, many within the Congress will get more vocal about their support to Jagan. The junior YSR may have spared the Congress for now, but the party will continue to function in the state on tenterhooks.

Ever since the news of Jagan's thumping win started to trickle out several Congress leaders from AP had come out in the open and congratulated him.

When asked about their shower of praise to the biggest rival of the Congress, they said that not much should be read into it. He has won an election and has become a member of Parliament, and these congratulatory messages are just cursory messages.

Although the Congress appears to be calm, insiders say that the party is doing everything to retain its members of legislative assembly. Many of these MLAs had made it clear that they would cross over, depending the margin and any win by a margin of 3 lakh was good enough for them.

However, Jagan himself has asked them to wait a couple of months. His associates say that he is now beaming with confidence. His biggest rival is the Congress, and he would like to toy with their feelings. Hence, over the next few months, he will pull out more tricks from his bag to weaken the rival party.

Jagan has gone on record, saying that he has no intention to break the Congress. He says that it is evident that the opposition and the ruling Congress in the state have joined hands and in the absence of an opposition party he would like to don that role.

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Jagan also makes it clear that there appears to be no chance to topple any government now and he is planning to take on the Congress step by step. The Congress has remained mum over his victory, but the Telugu Desam Party has been quick to react by saying that Jagan had cheated the people by giving a different impression to the election.

When contacted, senior TDP leader, D Veerabhadra Rao said that this was an election fought more between Kadapa and New Delhi, and Jagan too had adopted the same slogan.

"People believed that it was a national election and they have not bothered to look into the black money that has been used in this election by Jagan. I am sure that the situation would be different when he faces an election in all parts of the state and just the result of one Kadapa is not good enough to judge the situation in the state," he said.

Going by the manner in which the events are unfolding in Andhra Pradesh, it appears that both the Congress and Jagan are playing their cards carefully. No one is giving away too much and each party is giving a very strong image of themselves.