Daggubati family has always been in the anti Chandrababu camp. Their opposition to Naidu ultimately brought them closer to YS Jagan Mohan Reddy .
In a desperate attempt to find a political opportunity, Daggubati Venkateswara Rao escorted his son Hitesh, the debutant in politics to the YSR Congress supremo. Thus, Hitesh perhaps would take on Lokesh as the political fight within the family gets into the next generation.
This fight is not new to telugu people. Purandeswari joined the congress, the party which her father bitterly opposed. The Congress led by YS Rajasekhara Reddy provided Purandeswari, the daughter of NTR, political asylum. The opposition to Chandrababu Naidu was the common cause for both Purandeswari and Congress unite.
As the Congress lost the political steam post bifurcation, Purandeswari looked towards BJP. Daggubati family’s political journey always had two dimensions. Firstly, to find a political opportunity as TDP led by Chandrababu Naidu turned out to be unpalatable. The second objective is to oppose their arch rival , Chandrababu Naidu to the extent possible. With Hari Krishna surrendering to Naidu and his subsequent demise, Balakrishna becoming TDP MLA after Naidu struck a marital relationship, Purandeswari had no support from the NTR’s family to take on Chandrababu Naidu.
Both, YS Rajasekhara Reddy and now YS Jaganmohan Reddy found in NTR’s kith and kin a right choice to confront Naidu. But, the history proved that they could not become indispensable in anti Naidu fight.
YS Jagan makes yet another bid to use NTR’s family members in the fight against Naidu.
The history is replete with examples to reveal that if one gets control over the party, the other family members cannot make any difference if they join some other party. Maneka Gandhi and her son joined BJP. But, they could not in any way specially contribute to the saffron party’s crusade against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and now even Priyanka Gandhi.
Shiva Pal Yadav and for that matter even Mulayam Singh Yadav could not prevent Akhilesh Yadav in taking over the reigns of Samajwadi party (SP). MG Ramachandran’s wife had to give way to Jayalalithaa. The fight between close cousins led to the split of Shiv Sena. But, Shiv Sena continues to be a significant political force in Maharashtra, though it lost some of its shine . This erosion cannot be totally attributed to the family feud within the party .
Thus, the history of TDP and the experience in other states only indicate that Daggubati will not have anything more than symbolic value in Jagan’s fight with Chandrababu Naidu .
( Prof.K. Nageshwar is India’s noted political analyst. He is a former member of the Telangana Legislative Council and professor in the Department of Communication & Journalism, Osmania University, Hyderabad, India )
