Congress wants Jagan MLAs to rethink on quitting

HYDERABAD: The ruling Congress leaders were confident of winning majority seats in the event of byelections to be held in 26 Assembly segments for which MLAs loyal to Jagan had resigned.They are of the view that Jagan’s popularity has started waning after the CBI began investigation into his assets.“Jagan has won the Kadapa byelections because of sympathy. But this will not work in other parts of the state,’’ they observed.Senior Congress leader and MLA JC Diwakar Reddy remarked that the MLAs who had resigned to their posts for Jagan’s sake would not be successful in making people vote in their favour.Besides, the people who attended Jagan’s Odarpu Yatra would not turn into votes at the time of elections.Diwakar Reddy claimed that he had never used ‘YSR’s photo’ to win polls in his Tadipatri Assembly segment.Another senior Congress leader and MLA Gade Venkat Reddy opined that the SC population who include a majority of Christians is dominant among several districts in Seemandhra region.He, however, was not sure whether they would extend support to Jagan’s partyMeanwhile, Congress leaders including former APCC president D Srinivas, Diwakar Reddy, Venkat Reddy, MLA Gandra Venkata Ramana Reddy, MLC R Padma Raju etc said that there was no threat to the Congress government due to resignation of party MLAs loyal to Jagan. They, however, wanted them to rethink on their resignations.