Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is scheduled to visit New Delhi tomorrow. He is to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi at 4 pm. The Prime Minister’s office had already communicated the appointment to the chief minister’s office at Tadepalli.
The chief minister would be meeting the Prime Minister ahead of the Presidential election and also the election to the four Rajya Sabha seats from Andhra Pradesh. The YSR Congress is likely to extend support to the Presidential candidate of the BJP-led NDA government.
The YSR Congress had extended support to the BJP-sponsord candidate Ram Nath Kovind in 2017 elections. This time too the YSR Congress is likely to back the BJP-sponsored candidate. This time too, the BJP leadership is likely to ask the YSR Congress to support its presidential candidate.
Though the victory of BJP in Uttar Pradesh, Goa and Manipur had kept its edge over the opposition parties in the Lok Sabha, it still requires the support of the parties like the YSR Congress, to have the ride comfortable.
The issue is likely to come up for discussion during the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy. However, it is not known what conditions that Jagan Mohan Reddy would place before the BJP leadership and the Prime Minister when he offers his party’s support.
Sources say that Jagan Mohan Reddy is likely to press for the Special Category Status and the Ramayapatnam Port issues as precondition to his party’s support to the BJP in the presidential election. Special Category Status is the core issue that would come in the way of the YSR Congress in the 2024 elections.
Jagan Mohan Reddy is working hard to find a way out from the Special Category Status demand. He wants the Central government to consider the demand or show an acceptable alternative that would comfort the voters in Andhra Pradesh to vote for him in the next elections. It is to be seen what Jagan Mohan Reddy would bring for the state when he meets the Prime Minister.
