Making a partial climbdown, Congress MP Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, who had been defying the high command directive on his controversial “Odarpu Yatra”, on Monday announced its postponement from Tuesday to July 8.
“It is my duty as the son of late Rajasekhara Reddy to fulfil the commitment I made to my brothers and sisters. I promised to share your grief. It has been eight months since my father died. It is delay,” he said in a statement.
“However, I got a message from the high command on Sunday to postpone the yatra indefinitely. I have full faith in our leader. I am confident that I will be able to resume the yatra by convincing her. Hence, as per the message from the high command, I am postponing the yatra for some days,” Mr Jaganmohan said.
Mr Jaganmohan was scheduled to undertake his yatra in Srikakulam district from Tuesday.
The Congress had last week asked the Kadapa MP not to go ahead with his yatra to console the families of those who either committed suicide or allegedly died of heart attack after hearing the news of the death of his father and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy last year.
“I will resume it (the yatra) on July eight, the birthday of Dr Rajasekhara Reddy. I believe that I will be able to get the approval and blessings of our party president by then,” the Andhra Congress leader, who had on Sunday indicated that he might go ahead with his yatra, said.
He said his mother Vijayalakshmi has written a letter to Sonia Gandhi not to stop the yatra. She also sought an audience to explain the matter.
Alleging that TRS has played “cruel politics” over his yatra to Warangal district in Telangana on May 28, Mr Jagan said his tour of Srikakulam had no such problems. “TRS has made my yatra to Warangal controversial. But there is no problem with Srikakulam. It has been over eight months since my father died. How long should I wait,” he asked.