Hyderabad:
Politician Jagan Mohan Reddy, recently released on bail after a year in prison in Hyderabad, today praised Narendra Modi, who is running for Prime Minister, as an administrator he admires and urged, "We want Narendra Modi to come to a secular platform." Religion must not be politicised, Mr Reddy said. His family had said recently that it will not tie up with Mr Modi's party, the BJP.
Mr Reddy also attacked the Congress, the party his father belonged to, for its decision to divide Andhra Pradesh.
Mr Reddy met the governor, ESL Narasimhan, to demand a special session of the state legislature to collate opinion against the bifurcation which will result in the formation of a new state of Telangana.
The 39-year-old is being investigated for a melange of corruption charges. The CBI has alleged that as chief minister, his father YSR Reddy pressured companies to invest in Jagan's vast business empire in exchange for licenses and permissions.
YSR was a Congress leader; after he died in a helicopter crash in 2009, Mr Reddy was sidelined by the party, forcing his exit and the formation of his own party, the YSR Congress.
Mr Reddy has been opposing the union government's decision to convert one of the three regions of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, into a state within six months.
Politicians and residents of the other two regions - Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema - have been protesting against the bifurcation. Mr Reddy and his family draw their power from Rayalaseema.
Telangana and Andhra Pradesh will have 21 Lok Sabha seats each.
The court trying Mr Reddy for corruption permitted him today to travel to his constituency of Kadapa to visit his father's grave, but has forbidden him from addressing public meetings there.
The court also refused him permission to participate in a farmers' rally in Guntur on Friday.