YSR’s brother pledges loyalty to Congress

HYDERABAD - Former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy’s brother Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy Tuesday said he would remain in the Congress and denied his nephew Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy’s allegation that the party was trying to divide the family.

After a brief meeting with Jagan, as Rajasekhara Reddy’s son is popularly known, Vivekananda told reporters that he would follow in the footsteps of his elder brother by remaining in the Congress till his last breath.

Jagan had Monday resigned from the party and from parliament. His mother also quit the party and the assembly.

The meeting between Jagan and Vivekananda Reddy at a family estate in Kadapa district lasted only two minutes, indicating the serious differences in the family. The younger brother of the late YSR reportedly left the place in a huff.

Vivekanada that the party leadership was trying to divide the family. The member of legislative council said he went to New Delhi on his own to meet Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy and Congress leader M. Veerappa Moily.

“The high command neither invited me nor did it lure me with a ministerial post. If aspiring for a cabinet berth is a mistake, I apologise for it,” said Vivekananda, a former MP from Kadapa.

Vivekanada had been camping in Delhi for a few days to lobby for a cabinet berth. He had stated that he would try to mediate between the leadership and Jagan.

YSR’s son Monday resigned from the party, alleging that the leadership was trying to create fissures in the family by luring his uncle with a cabinet berth in the new Andhra government.

Vivekananda said he had to come out before the media as Jagan had made allegations against the party leadership. He pointed out that the party leadership always encouraged YSR and made him president of the state unit of the party at a young age and later the chief minister.

YSR died in a helicopter crash in September last year, a few months after he became chief minister for the second term.