Chief Minister and YSR Congress president, Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, is changing the MLAs for the next round of general election. He is shifting some MLAs from their constituencies to the new constituencies and dropping some from the contest.

The chief minister is also bringing some MPs to the Assembly and sending some MLAs to the Parliament. This massive exercise is to ensure that the party retains power in the state for the second term.

However, the exercise is also set to create a lot of dissidence in the party. Several MLAs who are not interested to go to the Parliament or some MPs who are not interested to go to the Assembly might show their dissidence to the leadership.

Above all, those who are going to be dropped from the contest are likely to revolt against the leadership. Some of them are looking at other parties to contest and there is in all likelihood, an exodus from the party to the other parties.

A good number of sitting MLAs, who are likely to be dropped from the contest, are looking at the TDP and Jana Sena for the tickets. There are MLAs who are also looking at the Congress as an alternative to contest, if Jagan Mohan Reddy denies them a ticket.

The big question now is will Jagan Mohan Reddy be able to handle this exodus and dissidence from within the party! Being a young leader, Jagan Mohan Reddy had so far never tasted the dissidence and the exodus. He started his party in 2010 and had been running the show since then. There was an exodus of 23 MLAs in 2016, when Jagan Mohan Reddy was in opposition.

It is now to be seen how he would handle the dissidence and exodus once he completes the exercise of giving tickets to the MLAs.