Will Congress expel Jagan

Nov 22, 2010

Hyderabad/New Delhi: A day after late Andhra Pradesh CM YS Rajashekhara Reddy's son and Congress MP Jaganmohan Reddy declared an open war against the party high command, Andhra Pradesh Congress submitted its report.

On Monday, APCC submitted its report to Law minister Veerappa Moily who has called the issue of Jagan's defiance a serious one.

It remains to be seen whether the Congress will act against the rebel Kadappa MP for his defiance.

Meanwhile, supporters of Jagan Reddy are rallying around him staging protests and raising pro-Jagan slogans.

On Saturday, Saakshi, the 24-hour Telugu news channel owned by Jagan launched a frontal attack on party president Sonia Gandhi.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was also targeted along with the "coterie around Sonia" for the "sorry state of affairs in Congress."

The channel described Sonia's leadership a failure and PM as her rubber stamp. The special report - telecast on Friday and repeated on Saturday - is believed to be aimed at forcing the leadership to expel him.

Jagan has been angry with the party leadership for ignoring his claim to succeed his father Y S Rajasekhara Reddy as Andhra Pradesh CM. The Congress leaders opposed to Jagan said the story was aimed at targeting Gandhi for not making him the chief minister after his father's death in a helicopter crash in September last year.


Remarks against PM, Sonia by Jagan channel serious issue: Moily

NEW DELHI: Law minister M Veerappa Moily on Monday termed as a 'serious issue' the telecast of a programme on rebel Congress MP Jaganmohan Reddy-owned TV channel, projecting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in bad light.

"It is a very serious issue... I have received the reports from Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah and PCC", Moily told reporters here.

However, he refused to answer whether disciplinary action was in the offing against Jagan.

He also said that the party high command had not summoned Rosaiah to Delhi over the issue.

Taking a serious note of the issue yesterday, Congress had sought a report from the state unit, even as the channel repeated the programme without some critical captions and voice-overs.

Sakshi, the 24-hour Telugu news channel owned by the 38-year-old Kadapa MP and son of late chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, had launched a frontal attack on Sonia as well as the organisation in the one-hour programme.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was also targeted along with the "coterie around Sonia" for the "sorry state of affairs in Congress."

Rejecting allegations that the programmes showed the Congress President or the Prime Minister in bad light, Sakshi CEO Priyadarshini Ram said the story was not against either Sonia or Singh and maintained that there was no intervention by Jaganmohan with regard to the content of the TV channel.

"It was not a story against...either Sonia Gandhi or Manmohan Singh. It was a current story that was based on the 125 years of the Congress party, how it was faring...