Congress to attack Jagans criminal links

HYDERABAD:  A majority of the campaign managers of the Congress seem to be veering round to the view that the party should attack the “criminal nature of YSR Congress Party chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’’ more than his corruption if it is to reap a good harvest of votes in the byelections on June 12.In the absence of any clear instructions on which aspect of Jagan Mohan Reddy’s public life should be attacked, each leader is talking in terms he thinks fit to diminish the popularity of the Kadapa MP.  Ever since Jagan Mohan Reddy had left the Congress in 2010 and floated his own outfit ahead of the byelections in Kadapa in May 2011,  Congress leaders had been maintaining stoic silence on YSR’s scion. This led to thinking that many of them were not ready to burn their oars by targeting Jagan Mohan Reddy and lose an opportunity to be on his side if he emerged as an alternative to the Congress. Only the likes of Rajya Sabha member V Hanumantha Rao were harsh on him. When Jagan Mohan Reddy’s “connection” with Mangali Krishna, an accused in the case of attempt on the life of TDP leader Paritala Ravindra in 2001, became known, Hanumantha Rao was the fisrt to pounce on Jagan  saying that if such leaders were elected, there would only be more bloodshed and gore.The latest thinking in the Congress is that this line of attack on Jagan Mohan Reddy might yield result because people would not like to support a leader who has a criminal background. “People have reconciled to the fact that leaders of all political parties are corrupt. If you can establish the “criminal” past of Jagan Mohan Reddy, it might jell with people,” one senior leader from Kadapa said.According to him, there has not been unanimity on what should be said about Jagan Mohan Reddy, Some leaders attack Jagan Mohan Reddy and his father, some attack only Jagan and keep silent on YSR and some attack the Kadapa MP but express their high regard for his father. “This is leading to a situation where we are at a loss to assess how people are receiving us,” he said.He is of the view that  if one harps on Jagan’s corruption, it may be counterproductive since it will bring the late YSR into the picture. ``When you attack Jagan, by implication you are saying that YSR too was corrupt. People are not ready yet to relish if one talks ill of YSR. It is better to go slow on corruption and concentrate on exposing the “criminal nature” of Jagan Mohan Reddy,’’ he said.