A political crisis gripped the ruling YSR Congress Party in Prakasam district after senior leader Balineni Srinivasa Reddy resigned as the party’s regional coordinator on Saturday.
Hurt by the ‘‘ill-treatment’‘ meted out to him during Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s recent visit to Markapur town in the district, the former Energy Minister had decided to step down from the post after consulting his close followers, according to sources.
The party strongman in Prakasam district, Mr. Srinivasa Reddy, is a relative of the Chief Minister and has been handling the YSRCP party affairs in Nellore district, where it is faced with serious dissidence in at least three Assembly segments. Whether the party leadership will persuade him to reconsider his decision is to be seen.
The senior leader, who had been a member of the erstwhile Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy Cabinet, had been sulking ever since he was dropped from Jagan’s Cabinet mid-way through the current term while A. Suresh, much junior to him, was retained. He could not digest the decision of the Chief Minister to selectively retain some members of the previous Cabinet even though a total Cabinet rejig after 2-1/2 years was declared, the sources said.
Unsure of getting the party ticket in the 2024 elections, Mr. Srinivasa Reddy had expressed fears that a woman might be given the MLA ticket from Ongole in the next elections.
He felt the effect of the loss of the Minister post when the police personnel at the ground level asked him to get down from his vehicle and go by walk to a meeting of the Chief Minister in Markapur as his name did not figure in the list of VIPs as per protocol, the sources said. He left in a huff then before returning to the meeting venue following intervention by the Chief Minister.
Enough damage was done by the time the Chief Minister’s Office as also Mr. Suresh intervened. The Chief Minister then assuaged his ruffled feelings by persuading him to press the key on the computer laptop to mark the crediting of bank accounts of the EBC Nestham women beneficiaries.
