As Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy remained in jail a year after his arrest, his wife Y.S. Bharathi Reddy believes it is not because of corruption but because both the Congress and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) don’t want him to be among people. ”He is in jail today because the political fortunes of the Congress and TDP depend on him being in or out (of prison),” his wife told INN in an informal chat during her visit to Chanchalguda jail in Hyderabad.
Though it has been a tough year for Bharathi and the family, she is confident that YSR Congress will sweep next year’s elections and he will become the chief minister. Bharathi alleged that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was deliberately prolonging the case to keep him in jail.
“In October, CBI said they need three months (to complete investigation). After eight months when we went to the Supreme Court, the CBI said they need another four months. The court said okay we will give four months and then the CBI said we will find grounds for seeking more time. What kind of investigation is this?” she asked.
“All this is nothing but crushing political dissent. We live in a democratic country. Then why are they crushing a political party so ruthlessly?” The 34-year-old Bharathi, who is looking after the family business in the absence of her husband, claims people had made up their mind to make Jagan chief minister when his father YSR (Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy) died in a helicopter crash in September 2009.
“They see Jagan as a sincere leader fighting for them. They believe only Jagan will do what his father did. None of these things (cases) will make any difference. ”If they don’t bring Jagan out, it will be a clean sweep,” she said when asked how the party would fare in the coming elections to the assembly and Lok Sabha if Jagan remains in jail.
She pointed out that Jagan had been working among the people for last two and half years. ”He has shown his sincerity. Whether it was 2 at night or 2 in the afternoon, he always showed his affection for people,” she said, glancing at pictures of Jagan’s state-wide tour to console families of those who died of shock or committed suicide following his father’s death.
She said the Congress promised to make him a central minister if did not undertake his ‘odarpu yatra’. She said had the case against Jagan been anything to do with corruption, they would have got him between 2004 and 2009 or even in 2010 but the case was filed in 2011 after he left the Congress.
“When YSR was alive nobody had anything to say. In fact everybody praised him. The prime minister, the UPA chairperson, all used to say he made Andhra a model state. Once he died and one month after Jagan left the party ,all these things started.”
On allegations that YSR and Jagan looted public wealth, Bharathi said all the government orders relating to allotment of land and leases to certain companies were issued by the consent of the cabinet and in the interest of the state. Bharthi said her husband had nothing to do with the government ordres. “Jagan was neither MP nor an MLA. He never spoke to anybody and he never requested anybody to issue the ordres.”
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