AP CM Kiran goes for Jagan's Jugular

SRIKAKULAM/RAJAHMUNDRY: Departing from his usual style, chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy for the first time let go at two of his tormentors, one insider and another outsider.While drawing the Lakshman Rekha for health minister D L Ravindra Reddy, the chief minister launched a vehement attack on the Kadapa MP during a byelection campaign rally at Draksharamam in East Godavari district. Claiming to be staggered by Jagan’s wealth, amassed by blindsiding his father Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, he also claimed that the late chief minister’s legacy -- which the Kadapa MP claims as a birthright -- rightly belongs to the Congress.For weeks, Kiran Kumar’s critics had been barracking him for being soft on Jagan, with Ravindra Reddy even calling him a covert operative of the YSRC leader. But taking everyone by surprise on Monday, Kiran Kumar came down heavily on Jagan Mohan Reddy: “He has built a palace with 80 rooms! What kind of a person would need that? You can imagine the kind of person Jagan Mohan Reddy is.” All through his campaign tour, the chief minister was a man touched to the quick. At Srikaklulam, he spelt out the party line to Ravindra Reddy: “If he does not mend his ways, he’ll have to face action.”  He said the party high command would give Ravindra Reddy time to eat his words, and move in for summary action, if he did not do so. At Draksharamam, he went for Jagan’s jugular. “The late YSR dreamt of making Rahul Gandhi the Prime Minister in 2014. And here is Jagan Mohan Reddy trying to obliterate the dream,” Kiran said.“Despite being the son of a life-long Congress man, Jagan is now hobnobbing with TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu and TRS president K Chandrasekhara Rao to bring down the state government,” he said.Kiran Kumar Reddy recalled YSR telling him at a Congress Legislature Party meeting that no Congress man, under any circumstances, should work against the interests of the party. “You should obey the orders of the high command,” he quoted YSR.  “Jagan Reddy was also there at the meeting that day. But what did he learn from his father?”At both Srikakulam and Draksharamam, he criticised Jagan for bringing these byelections upon  the people only to serve his own interests. “No one wanted these elections. It is an additional expenditure which people would have to bear. Because of bypolls, development work has come to a standstill for 50 days,” he said.