It has been more than 11 years since YSR Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy floated the party and right from the beginning, he has been ensuring strict discipline in the party.
Those who have differed with him and his policies might have left the party and joined the other parties, but there has hardly been any leader who has revolted against his style of functioning, while continuing in the party, except of course Narasapuram MP Kanumuru Raghu Ramakrishna Raju.
Especially after Jagan was voted to power in the 2019 assembly elections with a massive mandate of 151 out of 175 MLAs in the state assembly, nobody dared to question him or point an accusing finger at him.
There were some grumblings during the recent cabinet reshuffle, but they were not so serious and everything subsided within a short period of time.
But in the recent past, there have been some voices of dissent over the alleged functioning of his government.
Some MLAs are not hesitating to express their grievances over the lack of developmental works in their respective constituencies.
The case of YSRC MLA from Nellore (rural) Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy has become an irritant for Jagan. For the last few days, he has been openly raising issues of public concern, without of course making direct comment on Jagan.
The other day, Kotamreddy alleged that some leaders within the party are trying to suppress him. He said he had been facing the same situation as that of former minister Balineni Srinivas Reddy in Ongole, who also alleged that there is an internal sabotage in the party.
On Tuesday, Kotamreddy resorted to a novel protest, by entering into a sewage drain to protest over the delay by civic and railway authorities in constructing a bridge. He shocked everyone by sitting on the bank of the drain with his feet into the sewage water.
He was angry with the officials of Nellore Corporation and Railway authorities for not building the bridge despite repeated requests. Of course, his critics did not lose much time in attacking him, saying he was indulging in drainage politics.
Naturally, it has upset Jagan, who doesn’t tolerate even a feeble voice of dissent against his government. But not just Kotamreddy, but there were other voices of revolt in the party.
At a time when the chief minister is sounding confident of retaining power in Andhra for a second successive time, such a talk will definitely not help the party.
Jagan might come up with a stern warning against such elements in the party plenary to be held on Friday and Saturday, sources said.