The announcement made by YSR Congress party president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy appointing party general secretary Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy as the “State Coordinator” of the party has come as a rude shock to many leaders and cadre.
A post on the party’s official handle on X announcing the appointment of Sajjala as the state coordinator received heavy trolling by the party cadre.
Most of the followers of the party’s social media account have opposed the appointment, questioning the credibility of Sajjala.
It is an open secret in the party that majority of the YSRCP leaders and cadre are of the view that it was Sajjala who had messed up the party affairs before the last elections and was one of those who were responsible for the party’s defeat in the elections.
Soon after the election results were out, Sajjala did not come to Tadepalli for a few days.
Later, he surfaced and tried to convince Jagan that the defeat was not because of the latter’s fault or his government’s failures, but because of the manipulations by the NDA partners.
However, the party high command reportedly received complaints from several former MLAs, alleging that Sajjala was responsible for their defeat in the elections.
"He did not allow us to meet the chief minister, and we had to wait for hours in the Tadepalli office," they complained to Jagan.
There were also complaints that payments worth crores of rupees to various social media groups have been stopped.
"There are several financial transactions that need to be resolved by Sajjala," sources said.
A YSRCP leader, who was dropped from the assembly elections and forced to contest the Lok Sabha elections, blamed Sajjala for ignoring the needs of the party candidates.
"Instead, Sajjala would demoralize the candidates by saying they were not putting up a strong enough fight in their constituencies. He was supposed to project a better image of the party in the media, but he would undermine the party candidates even in front of the pro-TDP media," he said.
In spite of all these complaints, Jagan still reposed faith on Sajjala and his leadership abilities and that surprised many leaders.
“When the boss himself doesn’t understand the ground realities and sentiments of the party leaders, how can he expect to return to power in the next elections?” a party leader asked.