The suspension of senior YSR Congress party leader and former minister Kothapalli Subbarayudu from the party for his open rebellion has sent a clear message to the party leaders and cadre that party president and chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy won’t tolerate any rebellion.
Already, there has been a criticism against the YSRC president over the inaction against rebel party MP from Narasapuram Kanumuru Raghu Ramakrishna Raju, though he has been attacking the party and the Jagan government day in and day out.
Though everybody knows that Jagan has not been expelling Raju from the party for the simple reason that he does not want to give a heroic image to the rebel MP, the inordinate delay in getting Raju disqualified or taking action against him has brought some lenience to the other disgruntled elements.
Interestingly, the party has been witnessing such elements only in East Godavari and West Godavari districts.
The latest episode of YSRC MLC Ananta Udaya Bhaskar alias Ananta Babu killing his driver, allegedly over a woman leader’s issue has brought a lot of bad name to the party.
So, Jagan immediately suspended him from the party and also stripped him of his MLC seat. The YSRC leader is now cooling his heels in the jail.
The suspension of Kothapalli Subbarayudu has sent yet another strong message to the party cadre that Jagan is going to act tough against any sort of rebellion in the party.
“If Jagan shows lenient attitude towards Kothapalli, it would lead to further rebellion in the party,” a party leader observed.
The chief minister is of the view that if the party loses grip in the two erstwhile combined Godavari districts, it would damage the party considerably, since they account for nearly 35 assembly seats.
“That is the reason why Jagan doesn’t want any bad name to the party in these two districts,” the leader added.