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The Jagan Mohan Reddy camp has floated
the rumour that he could be floating a regional party.
The move seems driven by Jagan’s need to stay in the headlines after the
Congress high command preferred Mr K. Rosaiah as Chief Minister. Most recently,
the MP had protested the division of the state along with the Telugu Desam ranks
in the Lok Sabha — and got his headlines all right.
There is also the worry that Mr Reddy’s support base could be eroded as the
lines get blurred in the protests for and against bifurcation. Already, many
staunch supporters in Telangana of the YSR family are working in support of
statehood for the region.
An aide to Mr Reddy said: “When people are opposing division, we cannot sit idle
and allow things to go against us. We have to think of floating a new party.”
Their logic runs like this: “Mr Chiranjeevi has already hit the roads on the
United AP plank, Mr Chandrababu Naidu may do so soon. Both will blame the
Congress for the present situation. In such a situation the Congress cannot face
the public. We have to float a party to save our skins.”
For this, the aide, a former minister, averred that according to legislators,
the best bet to float a new party would be the less-than-a-year-politics Jagan.
The rumour was boosted by a survey carried by Outlook magazine, which reported
that 43 per cent of respondents felt that the Telangana row would not have
flared up if Mr Reddy was made Chief Minister.
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