Is the Congress Party in both the Telugu states giving a walkover when it comes to claiming the legacy of YSR? Is it ceding ground to YS Jagan and YS Sharmila on the issue of owning up YS Rajesehakara Reddy? It appears so. The recent meeting called by YS Vijayamma to mark the 12th death anniversary of YSR is an indication that the Congress has decided to forsake the YSR legacy.
It is an open fact that YSR was an out-and-out Congressman and always wanted to see the Gandhi family rule the country. He was among the best and the most popular of Congress CMs. Even 12 years after his death, there are countless people who remember him and recollect his memories gratefully. He did all these as a Congress CM and never swerved from the Congress path. But the Congress, it appears, is not in a position to claim his legacy.
In AP, YS Jagan has usurped his legacy and has named his party after YSR. Not just that. Today, the Congress in AP is not even able to hold any programme in memory of its best CM, who named all his schemes after either Indira Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi. Now, it appears that the Congress is ready to forsake YSR’s legacy in Telangana too. In fact, YSR is more popular in Telangana than in AP. Yet, the party has not been organising either his birth anniversary or death anniversary.
This year on September 2, the Congress has virtually asked its members not to attend the memorial meeting on YSR organised on September 2. It issued a diktat to that effect. Though YS Vijayamma organised the meeting, it was clear that YS Sharmila, the chief of the YSRTP, was the brain behind the programme. In a couple of years, Sharmila will claim the YSR legacy and the Congress would cede the ground in Telangana too. No active Congressman except Komatireddy Venkat Reddy attended the meet.
There are murmurs within the TPCC that Revanth Reddy is still not criticising Chandrababu Naidu, years after he left the TDP, but at the same time is forsaking the legacy of YSR, who was instrumental in having a Congress rule for 10 continuous years.
