Jagan shoots from the lip
| HYDERABAD: A day after meeting Congress president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi and agreeing to leave the leadership issue in AP to her, Kadapa MP Y S Rosaiah’s cabinet colleagues who were in attendance at Jagan’s maiden press meet at the CM’s camp office while he took aim at the CM included home minister Sabita Indira Reddy, industries minister D K Aruna, IT minister Komitireddi Venkat Reddy, health minister D Nagender and education minister Manikya Varaprasad. “Our beloved leader Rajasekhara Reddy promised to increase the Rs 2 kg rice quota for the poor from 24 kg to 30 kg every month. That has not been done. My father had promised to raise free power duration to farmers from 7 hrs to 9 hrs. That too is still to be done,” Jagan said. Expressing unhappiness over Rosaiah’s functioning, Jagan said not only poll promises but even YSR’s development schemes were being neglected. “Let it be pension for the poor, houses or white ration cards, nothing has been done. White ration cards have been kept on hold on the grounds that a survey is on to weed out bogus cards. The survey itself is moving at a sluggish pace. Whether it is Rosaiah or anybody else nominated by the high command, I will continue to fight for the realisation of my father’s dreams,” he said. On how he would rate the performance of the Rosaiah regime which marked 50 days on Friday, he said: “It is a controversial question. I do not want to comment.” The Kadapa MP’s unhappiness with the high command was also on display. He first refused to grace the chair reserved for him in front of three portraits of Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia, and then chose to address the media standing away from the portraits. Sources close to Jagan said he intends to contest from YSR’s assembly constituency Pulivendula. “I am interested in state politics,” a source quoted him when he (Jagan) was asked about contensting from Pulivendula. At the press meet, however, he said he had never expressed a desire to be CM but hastened to ask the media whether it was wrong for a son to aspire to fulfil a father’s dreams. “I am 36 years old. It is not my ambition to become CM by any means whatsoever. I will work hard, reach out to the people and the post would then come calling one day,” he said. He signed off by talking of his father’s ambition to ensure that Rahul Gandhi became the PM. “I will make sure that the Congress wins 41 Lok Sabha seats in the 2014 elections and Rahul becomes the PM,” he said. | ||
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