Hyderabad:
In a setback for the Congress in Andhra Pradesh, YS Vivekananda Reddy, the brother of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, has resigned from the party. Mr Vivekananda Reddy will now join YSR's son Jagan Mohan Reddy's party - the YSR Congress.
Jagan Mohan Reddy quit the Congress in November 2010 after a 14-month long rebellion that began when his father, YSR Reddy, died in a helicopter crash. The conflict began when the party's central leadership did not pick Jagan to replace him.
In his resignation letter sent to the Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Jagan accused the party of humiliating him and his mother. He talked about being "hurt" and "suffering in silence at his humiliation" and blamed the Congress squarely for the divorce. He said "the last straw" was the Congress' decision to offer the post of Home Minister to his father's younger brother, Y S Vivekananda Reddy.
Jagan described this as "the conspiracy that is being hatched to vertically split the family of the great leader who brought back Congress party to power in Andhra Pradesh twice. I was shocked at the murky and disgusting politics being played at my back. Is it fair to lure my uncle YS Vivekanada Reddy to Delhi, thereby paving way for fissures in my family? I was deeply hurt over the reports in media that my uncle went to Delhi at the instance of Gulam Nabi Azad. Media reports revealed that this conspiracy was hatched to rein in Jaganmohan Reddy by provoking his family members against him. Does it not tantamount to a conspiracy against my family and myself?"
Mr Vivekananda Reddy had contested against Jagan and his mother in the Kadapa by-elections.
For the last two years, Jagan has conducted his odarpu yatra, a tour that has allowed him to visit thousands of homes who said they were in mourning for his father. The roadshow has led to a mass connect that most politicians can only dream of.