On YSR's birthday, Jagan begins defiant yatra

In 2003, Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy or YSR as he was commonly known, ended a ‘padyatra', which helped him become Chief Minister the next year, in Srikakulam. Today, his son Jagan began his Odarpu yatra, to honour his father's memory, from Srikakulam.

The yatra is being seen as an attempt perhaps to continue the journey, a fact which becomes even more evident because of the fact that the Yatra begins on YSR's birth anniversary.

July 8 marks the birth anniversary of YSR, the first since his tragic death in a helicopter crash last year, an accident that left millions shocked and heartbroken.

Amidst hundreds of supporters, YS Jaganmohan Reddy set forth from this town on Thursday, 750 km from Hyderabad and on the Andhra-Orissa border.

He is going ahead with his tour, this leg in north coastal Andhra, despite the Congress leadership's disapproval and even party chief Sonia Gandhi's reservations.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah seems to have washed his hands off this. "Whoever asked me, I told them not to attend the tour which has no permission. If anyone wants to participate, it is their personal decision,'' he said.

The state government is organising programmes as well to mark YSR's birth anniversary, but Jagan knows all eyes will be on him and on the response his rebellious tour will get.

Hundreds of supporters will accompany Jagan on his landmark yatra. "We will welcome Jagan with garlands," said one supporter. Others are unhappy that the state government has convened the Assembly's monsoon session and that this will prevent MLAs from joining Jagan on his father's birth anniversary.

"I don't know why they chose this date to start the Assembly session. Many of YSR's followers requested the government to change the dates but they paid no heed," said Y S Vivekananda Reddy, YSR's brother.

Jagan had begun his yatra - to console the families of those who either killed themselves or died on hearing of YSR's death last year - in Khammam. The next phase in the Telangana region had to be aborted on May 28.

For Jagan, who has had a troubled political journey in the months after his father's death, this is an attempt to establish that he shall don YSR's mantle.

The Rosaiah government will leave no stone unturned in its tribute to YSR, to convey that Jagan alone is not the inheritor of that legacy.