In less than two weeks of the YSR Congress party led by Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy suffering a major setback in the Andhra Pradesh assembly and Lok Sabha elections, rumblings have started surfacing in the party.
According to highly placed sources, several YSRCP leaders are waiting for an opportunity to quit the party and looking for greener pastures elsewhere.
Most of them are said to be from Nellore and Prakasam districts, who are not happy with the way things have gone for the party in the state in the recent elections.
But the most shocking news for Jagan, if it happens, would be that of party general secretary V Vijay Sai Reddy, who had been his trusted lieutenant till recently.
Apparently, Sai Reddy is terribly upset with the attitude of Jagan, even after the debacle in the recent elections.
According to the sources, Sai Reddy is feeling sidelined in the party and Jagan has stopped consulting him on crucial issues long ago, but is still depending on Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy and Dhanunjay Reddy, who were calling shots in the selection of candidates, reshuffling of candidates and campaign strategies.
On the party side, too, Jagan relied mostly on his uncle Y V Subba Reddy and loyalist Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy.
What has irritated Sai Reddy most was the way Jagan forced him to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Nellore, which he was not interested.
He was aware that he would lose the election because he was never a people’s leader. After he lost the election, Jagan started cold-shouldering him.
During the recent meeting of the MPs, Jagan gave a rude shock to Sai Reddy by declaring Subba Reddy as the YSRC parliamentary party leader, indicating that he should be working under Subba Reddy.
Already, there were differences between Sai Reddy and Subba Reddy, ever since Jagan removed the former from the party in-charge post of Visakhapatnam and north-Andhra districts and entrusted the responsibilities to Subba Reddy.
Now, with the latest development, Sai Reddy has realised that he has no importance in the YSRCP anymore and it is better for him to look for better options.
Sources said he is contemplating shifting loyalties to the Bharatiya Janata Party, if he gets the consent from the top BJP leadership.
Needless to say, Sai Reddy developed a lot of clout in New Delhi in the last 10 years and he was one MP, who has greater access to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his PMO and the other top BJP leaders including Amit Shah.
So, it might not be difficult for him to get into the saffron party.