Until a couple of days ago, you had to be either from Andhra Pradesh or be a political junkie to know thename of Yeduguri Sandinti Jagan Mohan
Reddy — or simply Jagan Reddy as he's better known — much less his importance. Today, this 37-year-old has an even chance to be king of Andhra Pradesh.
Even as he was grieving for his father YS Rajasekhara Reddy on Friday, it was clear from Thursday's clamour from a majority of party MLAs that either he had quietly acquired enormous popularity in the last few years or his supporters were an impatient lot. They didn't wait for his father to be buried before pressing his claim to the gaddi in Hyderabad.
That city has known Jagan's rise rather well. In the last two months, Hyderabad was buzzing with stories of how Jagan Reddy was keen to start an English daily. The name being toyed with was said to be 'The Witness'. Jagan himself, it's said, preferred the name 'Indian Post', but the owner of the title, Shreyans Shah of Gujarat Samachar, was apparently not willing to sell out.
Now that Jagan is seriously in the race for the CM's position, it's not known whether he will pursue his business plans with any seriousness. But even so, if he were to get the top slot in Andhra Pradesh, he would still be the only CM who is a media baron too. His Telugu daily Sakshi and his Telugu channel by the same name are up and doing fairly well — helped generously, not surprisingly, by advertisements from the state government.
Although Jagan Reddy busied himself with business ventures for the last five years, he never lost sight of politics — indeed, it's said politics was his first love. Soon after the 2004 elections that brought Rajasekhara Reddy to power in the state, grapevine had it that young Jagan tried to cajole his uncle Y S Vivekananda Reddy to vacate his Lok Sabha seat, Kadapa, so that he could get elected from there in a bye election. The uncle resistance and the high command's worry about an unnecessary bye-election being forced so early are said to have kept Jagan away.
Five years later, in the run-up to the 2009 elections, Jagan Reddy started out early. Large cut outs of him came up in Cuddapah town ahead of the polls, with the Congress young brigade demanding that the young man be the Lok Sabha candidate.
Slogans of "We want Jagan" were raised at meetings addressed by chief minister Rajasekhara Reddy, and in the end, Vivekananda made way for his nephew. The uncle was accommodated with a nomination to the legislative council.
Jagan is known as a chip of the old block — not quite the old block of his father but that of his grandfather Raja Reddy, a famed strong man of Cuddapah. In fact, it's said that old man Raja Reddy saw in his grandson a worthy successor. His son, he felt, was too gentle. This is not to suggest that young Jagan is either rude or crude as an individual.
In his personal dealings, he is polite and respectful, a smile invariably on his face, perhaps hiding his razor sharp mind. Till he became an MP just 100 days ago, Jagan used to operate out of Bangalore. The Karnataka capital is closer to the home town of the Reddys, Pulivendula, than Hyderabad. It's believed that even during this time Jagan took a lot of interest in realty in the capital of Andhra Pradesh.
That's not surprising: with land reforms never really taking place in the state, most top politicians and businessmen (including disgraced IT tycoon Ramalinga Raju) of the state have had more than passing interest in realty. There's a new buzz in town about Jagan's strong identification with the realty sector. In fact, it's said that this is responsible for the open lobbying by this sector for the son as the next CM.
After he became an MP, Jagan has been active in Delhi to further the cause of Andhra Pradesh. He often led delegations of MPs to Union ministers for clearing the way for the state's projects and other sundry jobs. Political wags say he's also seriously trying to build a good chemistry with Rahul Gandhi.
It's recognized that YSR himself was not really averse to building a Reddy dynasty in Hyderabad — as several Indian political families have built theirs. YSR was apparently planning to move to central politics in 2014, leaving the reins of the state in the hands of Jagan. But his sudden death has fast-forwarded things for Jagan even before his political apprenticeship isn't quite over.
Is he ready for a steep learning curve?
