Jagan Reddy camp gets restless, looks to CM

All doesn’t seem to be well in Y S Jaganmohan Reddy’s camp, as three of his staunch supporters who stood by him until now were recently spotted by the side of Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy.

The three happen to be the legislators of West Godavari district: Narasapuram MLA M Prasada Raju, Polavaram MLA Tellam Balaraju and Eluru MLA Alla Nani. Having resigned from the Congress last month in support of the YSR Congress chief, they were seen last week inching closer to the Chief Minister during his tour of Chittor, Krishna, East and West Godavari districts. Not only did they stay beside the CM, who chaired a district development review meeting at Eluru in West Godavari, throughout the day, but they also made a point of seeing him off at the airport, according to sources.

Call it switching sides too soon or having second thoughts too early, but sources say this disenchantment is not confined to the three MLAs, who refused to speak on the issue. Others, too, are weighing pros and cons of staying put in the Jagan camp.And the reasons, sources say, for them to do this course-correction are many. “The CBI investigation against Jagan is making them rethink. Jagan’s outbursts in New Delhi denying his friendship with (former BJP Karnataka minister) Gali Janardhana Reddy have not gone down well here. When he can deny knowing the Reddys, he may leave the MLAs in the lurch too,” said a Jagan supporter. “What has angered the MLAs most are his comments that he has no qualms about supporting the UPA. These MLAs are supporting him in his fight against the Congress believing that the party has been unfair to him. Now when he is in trouble, he goes to Delhi and says he will support the UPA which is nothing but supporting the Congress.”