Rebellion in YSRC seems to fizzle out as CM, aides placate rebels
AMARAVATI: Reconstitution of the Andhra Pradesh cabinet on Monday triggered a rebellion in the ruling YSR Congress on an unprecedented scale as the party cadre took to the streets and organised protests in many districts but by evening all seemed to have fizzled out.
Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy called his former Cabinet colleague Balineni Srinivasa Reddy to his residence in the evening and spoke his mind.
Coming out of the CM’s residence, Balineni said everything was sorted out and Jagan Mohan Reddy asked him to work for the party. “I am loyal to the YSR family and Jagan. I agreed to follow what Jagan said,” the sulking ex-minister said.
He, however, denied having offered to resign from his MLA post in protest against non-induction into the Cabinet again. Though his supporters in his native Prakasam district were perturbed, Balineni said everything would subside.
About the resignation threat by elected representatives in Prakasam district, including Ongole Municipal Corporation, Balineni said he would ask them to back off.
Balineni, who was the first to trigger the rebellion on Sunday after names of the new Cabinet ministers were announced, reportedly sent a message to the YSRC leadership that he would step down from his MLA post.
Balineni’s supporters organised road blockades in Ongole and some other parts of Prakasam district, demanding that he be re-inducted into the Cabinet.
Elected representatives of local bodies, including the Ongole Municipal Corporation, threatened to quit their posts if Balineni was not made a minister again.
On Sunday, YSRC general secretary SR KR eddy visited Balineni’s residence in Vijayawada twice and held talks but failed to placate the seething leader.
On Monday again Reddy came rushing to Balineni and took him to the Chief Minister to stem the trouble.
Former home minister M Sucharita, who was denied a second stint, submitted her resignation from the MLA post. She held a meeting with the party workers in Guntur, at the same time the new Cabinet was being inducted, and told them she was quitting as a legislator "due to personal reasons." Sucharita was ostensibly peeved over not being re-inducted into the Cabinet when fellow Dalits like T Vanita and others were taken back.