Till the other day, there were reports from within the YSR Congress party that party president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy was contemplating sidelining the leaders who were part of his coterie and had misled him in the last elections.
Prominent among them is Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy, who used to claim himself as the top man on Jagan’s camp.
Reports said Jagan decided to sideline him, because of large scale complaints from several leaders and cadre.
Apparently, Sajjala was responsible for the widening the gap between the cadre and Jagan and was not allowing the party leaders and workers to get access to the party president. Even on the YSRCP social media, one can see the cadre attacking Sajjala.
Though Jagan restricted Sajjala’s powers to a large extent and asked him not to involve in the decision-making exercise, he could not completely discard him, as he is a strongly loyalist to the party and YSR family.
When he was in power, Jagan was banking on his trusted aide and former Rajya Sabha member V Vijay Sai Reddy. But the latter chose to quit the party on the pretext that Jagan was not trusting him, but was listening to the words of people like Raj Kesireddy and Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy.
Now with the exit of Sai Reddy and the arrest of Raj Kesireddy, Jagan doesn’t have many leaders who can advise him and implement his directions. There are no political troubleshooters now when the party is in crisis.
And there is a leadership vacuum that has emerged in managing the party's national and regional strategies.
Though there are leaders like Y V Subba Reddy, P Mithun Reddy and Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy, they do not have much connect with the cadre.
Taking advantage of this situation, Sajjala managed to win the heart of Jagan again and get back into his active position.
And Jagan is reportedly entrusting him with key responsibilities like overseeing internal meetings and handling the important party issues.
“With no apparent alternative of equal capability, Jagan seems to be increasingly relying on him. As per Jagan’s instructions, Sajjala visited jailed leaders like Kakani in Nellore and Nandigam Suresh in Guntur,” sources said.
With many district leaders now reaching out to Sajjala, it seems that Sai Reddy’s exit has cleared the path for Sajjala’s dominance.
Party insiders believe that Jagan may soon restructure party leadership, and all eyes are now on who gets what responsibilities.