YSR Congress party president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has made an open statement in the assembly in its first session itself that he does not want to split the TDP legislature party but will allow its leader N Chandrababu Naidu to enjoy the leader of opposition status at the mercy of YSRC.
He declared that if any TDP MLA wants to join the YSRC, he should resign from the assembly membership, lest he would face disqualification.
“I can split the TDP MLAs and lure them into my party. But if I do that, there will be no difference between me and Chandrababu Naidu,” he said.
Jagan’s decision has won him a lot of appreciation from all quarters, but his Telangana counterpart K Chandrasekhar Rao apparently did not appreciate the decision.
When the YSRC president came to Hyderabad before leaving for Israel and met KCR at Pragathi Bhavan, this issue of not encouraging defections into YSRC reportedly came up for discussion.
According to sources, KCR said Jagan had done a mistake by not engineering defection of MLAs from the TDP.
“You should strike when the iron is hot. Never allow the opposition parties to rise again. That is what I have done with the Congress,” he reportedly told Jagan.
The TRS chief pointed out that Jagan has given a new lease of life to the TDP by not splitting the latter.
“Some of your government’s decisions have given a new weapon to the TDP chief, who is now gaining strength to strike back at you. Had you split the TDP, he would have been completely demoralised,” KCR reportedly told Jagan.
He advised the YSRC to start the process of dividing the TDP at least now, but it is not known whether Jagan had agreed with KCR or not.