YSR Congress general secretary and government advisor Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy is now in the eye of the storm after the party suspended four MLAs for cross voting in the MLC elections. Two of them – Mekapati Chandrasekhar Reddy and Undavalli Sridevi – have denied the allegation, while the other two – Anam Ramanarayana Reddy and Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy – remained silent.

Both Anam and Kotamreddy have turned against the leadership and have been indulging in criticising the party in the public meetings and before the media. Kotamreddy went one step further and attended the recent budget session with a placard and held a protest in the house only to be suspended for the entire session.

Now, after the suspension, the MLAs are showing their fingers at Sajjala alleging that he masterminded their suspension from the party. It is also alleged that Sajjala is misleading chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy in every issue.

Sajjala had been playing a key role both in the government as advisor and in the party as general secretary. Even ministers are forming queue lines at his office and they don’t even venture to sit before him.

The opposition TDP calls him Sakala Sakhaa Mantri meaning a minister for all portfolios, reflecting that he handles every portfolio and is minister above every minister. He earned the same name in the party affairs.

He was in the eye of the storm when the employees held a protest rally in Vijayawada a few months ago with the employees openly criticising him for his involvement in every issue.

Now, it is alleged that Sajjala had misled Jagan Mohan Reddy and came up with a hurriedly taken decision suspending the four MLAs. He also branded them as having taken Rs 10 crore to Rs 20 crore each from the TDP for cross voting.

The suspended MLAs are throwing an open challenge to Sajjala asking him to prove his charge. They are also saying that Sajjala is a liability for the party and Jagan Mohan Reddy as well as he had been blocking the interviews of the chief minister with the party MLAs. He is said to be not allowing the MLAs to meet the chief minister without his permission.

Whoever tried to meet the chief minister without taking his permission was branded as anti-party, it is said and thus Sajjala was causing more harm to Jagan. It is high time that Jagan Mohan Reddy realise this damage and undo it before it undoes his prospects.

Ruling YSR Congress president and state government advisor Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy on Monday clarified that there would be no early polls in the state. He said that the elections to the State Assembly would be held as per schedule in 2024.

Ramakrishna Reddy, the mouthpiece of Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, had dispelled the talk about early elections in the state. A section of the media and opposition TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu had on several occasions claimed that Jagan Mohan Reddy would go for early polls and had asked his party rank and file to be prepared.

Sajjala said that the chief minister is not in favour of advancing the election scheduled for any reason. “The elections would be held as per the schedule and the government would utilise the full term given by the people,” he said.

He said that TDP, Jana Sena, CPI, CPI-M and the Congress were coming together to face the YSR Congress. “Let all parties come together, we are not worried,” he asserted.

He termed Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan meeting TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu in Hyderabad. He said that Pawan Kalyan had been working for the TDP chief right from the beginning. “He (Pawan) supported Naidu in 2019. He worked to divide the anti-government vote in 2019 and helped Naidu to win 23 seats. Now, he wants to bring all parties together to help the TDP in 2024,” Sajjala said.

He discounted the opposition criticism on GO 1 and said that the government was not denying permission for the parties to hold public meetings and rallies. “We are only asking the parties to give us the specific locations to hold the rallies but not prohibiting the public meetings,” Sajjala said.

He also said that such restrictions have been there for decades under Section 30 of Police Act and the GO 1 was nothing new.

YSR Congress general secretary and AP government advisor Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy on Friday ruled out the possibility of AP going for the early polls. He dismissed the talk on the possible early elections and said that the opposition parties were spreading false news to confuse people.

He said that the people have given historic mandate to the YSR Congress in the 2019 for five years and the government would continue till the last minute. He further said that the YSR Congress would also win the next elections, despite the misleading campaign being carried out by the opposition parties and a section of the media.

Sajjala came down heavily on the media for crossing the limits of criticism. He said that a section of the media in Andhra Pradesh was spreading false news among the people. He alleged that these media heads have their political alliances with the opposition parties.

He claimed that people are with the YSR Congress and thanks to the presence of social media, they were not buying the lies of the media. He also said that people were receiving all benefits from the government cutting across the party lines.

Sajjala also said that the corruption had come down to the lowest ever with chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy crediting the cash benefit directly into the bank accounts of the people. He further said that the decentralisation of administration through the village and ward secretariats, distribution of pension and ration at the doorsteps had reduced the hassles of the people, with which people are happy.

He also said that the Nadu-Nedu in education and health, the revolutionary changes in agriculture through the Rythu Bharosa Kendras have also won the hearts of the people.

The ruling YSR Congress in Andhra Pradesh would support the case in the supreme court against bifurcation, said Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy, who is the state government advisor and the party general secretary.

Sajjala said that the case against the bifurcation is pending in the supreme court and the YSR Congress would argue against the bifurcation. He further said that if the supreme court directs withdrawal of bifurcation and reunion of the two states, the YSR Congress would be the first party to welcome it.

Sajjala recalled the YSR Congress Party’s agitation against the bifurcation eight years ago. He said that the Congress which was in power and the BJP which was in opposition were responsible for the bifurcation. Similarly, the TDP which was in opposition in the state was also equally responsible for the bifurcation, he alleged.

The YSR Congress general secretary said that severe injustice was done to Andhra Pradesh in bifurcation. The YSR Congress was fighting for correction of this injustice and would continue to fight, he asserted.

He also said that as a ruling party in Andhra Pradesh, the YSR Congress was now fighting for implementation of the provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act. The party was also fighting for implementation of the promises made to the people of Andhra Pradesh at the time of bifurcation, he said.

With the Election Commission issuing notice on the life-time election of Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy as president of the YSR Congress, its general secretary and government advisor Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy said that the party would soon write to the EC on the issue.

Ramakrishna Reddy told the media persons on Thursday that the EC’s notice had reached the party office. He said that the party had not communicated anything to the EC and wondered who sent the communication to the EC.

He said that the party workers and the leaders have felt that it would be better to have Jagan Mohan Reddy as the life-time president of the party. “It was our wish and desire” to have Jagan Mohan Reddy as the permanent president of the party, he said. However, Jagan Mohan Reddy had rejected the proposal and wanted democratic process to be followed.

Sajjala further said that the party would elect Jagan Mohan Reddy as its president once in every five years. The party had amended its constitution making the president’s term for five years, he said.

Sajjala said that they were preparing the communication to be sent to the Election Commission as per the rules. He said that the party would also give a clear reply to the Election Commission on the doubts expressed by the EC on the presidential election.

“There would be no problem. It is a simple issue. A communication gap. We will clear it,” Sajjala told the media persons, stating that the issue is over and there is no controversy as media visualises.